Sans Days
by madlyinlov3onda
Summary: Reader tries adjusting to life after monsters are released to the surface, gradually falling for a punny short skeleton in the process.
1. Meeting Day

Whelp. Monsters, apparently, were a thing. You heard the tales of course, of beings underground with great and evil power. But only children really believed in them until recently. New travel options showed up to explore the underground towns and "live like a monster," though most of the monsters moved out soon as they had a chance. It was a strange first few months, watching these creatures slowly occupying more and more of the land above, taking places in daily life and fitting in almost seamlessly.

That was of course, if humans didn't get in the way of that happening.

"HA! Look at that little _beast_! It doesn't even have any arms!"

You stop mid-way placing groceries into your basket, hearing the voice of some human man. A couple other voices laughed, and you could hear a few small objects on the other side of the grocery aisle fall to the floor. _Bad news._

"Man, talk about weird! How do you even dress yourself?" Another voice hollered louder than necessary, making the rest of the store quiet. You quickly grab a couple of small blue boxes of pasta to put in your basket, wanting to get out of the store before the fight started. There have been plenty of cases of humans picking fights with monsters- never the other way around, how ironic- that quickly get disastrous. The media was never afraid to report every occurrence. However they tend to forget to mention most fights start because humans are idiots.

"C-come on guys! I-I don't want a-any trouble…"

 _Shit_. That sounded like a kid. Grinding your teeth, you hastily walk down the aisle and look down the one you heard the voices coming from. Three guys surrounding an orange monster wearing a striped shirt, who was shaking and backed against some fruits lining the wall with a few apples by their feet. The monster was easily half the size of the humans, still a child from anyone's guess.

You felt like you were going to regret this.

"Hey assholes, leave the kid alone." Your voice sounded a lot calmer than you felt, just barley loud enough to get the attention of said assholes. They turned to you and you managed to see the "HP" patch shaped like a rock on their jackets. _Ugh, Human Pride._ Gone were the days where Harry Potter or computers came to mind with those initials, now they stood for "I'm the biggest prick around, and I'm not afraid to prove it."

"Sure, no problem." The tallest one in the group said, and the others snickered. Why couldn't they be serious when they said that? "Unfortunately for you," his hand grabbed one of the spikes on the top of the crying monster's head, "I don't see any kids here-!" A basket full of groceries suddenly cracked against his face, spilling goods all along the ground as he toppled back. It took you a moment to realize that your hand was outstretched, and it was _your_ basket that just smacked the prick in the face. A rush of exhilaration rushed through you, a moment of self pride of actually being able to throw so accurately, before the others stopped looking at their bloody leader picking himself off the ground and started looking at you.

"Uh… please?" You swallow and wish of being able to reset that moment. The leader straightened himself up, rubbing at his bloody nose with the back of his hand, and glared daggers at you.

"You are going to regret that." His teeth are showing, but he isn't smiling. He makes a movement, and suddenly they are running at you.

Grocery shops aren't the most open places to run, but you manage to keep ahead of the group enough to run out of the store, groceries forgotten. You hear them close behind you, shouting at each other as much as you, but you can't help but look back to see them. You only glance for a moment over your shoulder, but it was long enough to see that you really should have kept exercising all those years ago.

You see blue.

Everything is too _still_ and your head is spinning and your legs hurt. "Oof… Hey are you ok?" You hear a low voice ask from underneath you, and you realize you aren't standing anymore; rather you are on your back on top something- or someone. There is shuffling nearby, and a pit ate at your stomach as you got ready to face the consequences of standing against HP.

"Whoa man, is that Undyne?" You hear the short prick's voice ask, and the other voices mumbled a bit. You try to right yourself, feeling vertigo engulf you as you look away from the sky and to the parking lot. The HP pricks stood just a couple yards away, all looking at a tall blue monster with wild red hair that was standing beside you.

"Damn right I am Undyne, whatchu got?" The female monster stepped in front of your view of the pricks, crossing her arms. The humans mumbled something before sulking away, glaring at you one last time before walking out of your view.

"…. excuse me? Are you …?" The voice from underneath you spoke out again, only just registering in your brain. You jump up surprised and trying to get off of the voice, only to have the edges of your vision darken and your legs feel weak. Large gloved hands grab your shoulders, steadying you as your vision came back.

"Whoa there, the pavement sure did a number on you." The blue monster laughed as she looked back at you, looking at your forehead. You looked up as if you could see what she was looking at before tenderly touching your forehead. Your fingers came back red. You blinked slowly; everything just wasn't clicking in your head.

"UNDYNE, I DO NOT THINK THIS HUMAN IS WELL." The voice of the glove owner yelled, not helping with your dizziness.

"We can see that, Papyrus. Don't worry- hey, look at me." The low voice from under you before was now in front of you, speaking lightly, and you looked down to meet it. A short, plump skeleton stood in front of you, half of his blue jacket dirty. He had a smile plastered on his face, though his eyes showed concern even if they were just pins of light in hollow sockets.

There was something really calming about the short skeleton. You found your breath and your legs seemed to be slightly sturdier, to the point that the glove owner –Papyrus- loosened his grip to let you stand on your own. You looked at the monsters watching you, seeing Papyrus was another, taller, skeleton, before turning your attention to the sound of footsteps running towards you.

"Thank you a bunch for saving me!" The little orange monster without arms ran up to you, looking up with big eyes and a larger smile. "You really showed them!" That statement doesn't quite sound right, but the kid seems happy so you don't correct them.

"Er… No problem." You crack a smile, feeling more attuned to reality. Unfortunately that meant you were becoming aware of the throbbing at your forehead. The monster turned and showed that they were carrying a plastic bag on their tail, placing it in front of you.

"I bought you your things, sorry about making you throw 'em!" They looked up at the tall blue monster, as if suddenly noticing her. Before you have a chance to say anything, the kid jumped and turned around. "I have to go, thanks again!" And they started running off. You watched long enough to see them trip and land on their face, but they got up with a smile and continued running.

"So that's why those idiots were after you? Glad we chased them off." Undyne said while placing hands on her hips, looking almost proud of you.

"Yeah, thanks for that." You said sheepishly, rubbing the back of your neck. The short skeleton seemed less concerned now that you were speaking and he started brushing off the dirt of his jacket. "Oh! I'm so sorry for running into you! I suppose I should be watching where I run when getting chased…"

He laughed, putting a hand out. "It takes more than that to rattle my bones." You looked at him for a moment, letting a smile escape when his joke registers. He seemed to like that. You bend to pick up the grocery bag and the world starting spinning around you. "Whoa, its ok, slow down there." A boney hand gripped your elbow to keep you from falling over.

"I'm fine… Thank you but I'm good." You smiled, carefully grabbing the bag and straightening up, trying to make the world stop rotating. "Just a bump on the head, nothing I haven't dealt with before. Besides, my home is just down the block a bit, I can make that." The short skeleton nodded, still looking ready to grab you if you started to fall again.

"HUMAN, I DON'T THINK YOU SHOULD BE ALONE WITH THAT WOUND. IT IS UP TO I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, TO HELP YOU BACK TO YOUR HOME." Papyrus announced while striking a dramatic pose, making you hold back a laugh.

"Yeah, I'm with Papyrus, I don't think its smart for you to be walking home alone, especially since you just pissed off a rather shady looking group." The short skeleton glanced back where the HP pricks were. You admit that you would feel a lot safer with them around… at least for the walk back.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind the company." You nodded and Papyrus seemed to jump with excitement.

"I'll grab the goods and get Frisk from school then. You bros have fun." Undyne said, turning to the store. "Oh, and Sans," she looked back. "Try not to scare the human." She smiled and waved, and you felt a bit of concern pointing out that you just asked monsters to walk you home.

You swallowed the concern and turned to the road, leading the way with the two skeletons a step behind and to your sides. The air was a bit chilly, not that it seemed to bother the skeleton brothers. They did seem quiet, or maybe they were quiet because you were. _Fuck_ …

"So… You guys live around here I take it?" You slowed down a little to be more in line with them; luckily this sidewalk was built big enough for three people to stand on at one time.

"YES. WE LIVE WITH UNDYNE AND ALPHYS IN AN APARTMENT."

"It's pretty small, but you humans sure like to pay a lot to live someplace." You bit your lip at San's comment. This area wasn't the most expensive around, but you did hear rumors about places raising prices for monsters.

You turned and started walking down an alleyway, as it was your usual route home, and heard Sans laugh. "You got _tibia_ pulling my leg, this is how you get home? Even after today?"

Ignoring the pun, he had a point. "It's my usual route, and nothing ever goes on down here… Besides, I have you two to scare off any baddies." You smiled, and then realized what you said. "Not that you are very… scary, or anything. Just that, you know, you…" You weren't about to just say 'you're monsters' but they seemed to understand anyway.

"I hope you have other routes home, for when we aren't here." Sans raised an eyebrow…bone? You don't know how someone without flesh on their face has so many expressions.

"Of course, its longer though. This cuts down right through the block." You clarify. After a few more moments of silence, you and the skeletons get through the buildings. You pull out your keys, stumbling over your fingers a bit before finding the right one, and opened the first door to the right. "Come on in, its not much but you guys can relax a bit if you want."

The skeletons took your suggestion, walking in and looking around your simple home. It had the basics; TV, table, couch, lazy chair, table, kitchen. There was a small hallway to the bathroom and two bedrooms, but they were just as empty looking as the main room. You haven't been here for too long, but long enough to not use it as an excuse for the emptiness. Your last roommate vanished once news of the Monsters came around, not a word said. They left almost everything they had; yet the place still seemed pretty empty.

You watched the brothers look around a moment, before feeling a throbbing at your forehead. "Oh right…" You walked into the bathroom and started digging around under the sink for a Band-Aid large enough. The box was there, but it was empty. You were about to give up when you found one tucked between two other boxes.

"Need a hand?" You jumped and hit your head on the sink lip, hissing and pressing a palm to the second injury your poor head received today. "Oops, sorry." Sans didn't sound too sorry with that smirk on his face. He kneeled down by you, lifting your hand off of the bump slightly. "No open skin, so at least you only need one Band-Aid." He grabbed a small towel from the rack and got it damp, pressing it gently to the other injury. He was surprisingly gentle with you. You had assumed since he was a monster… well, it was pretty obvious the media wasn't helping with monster stereotypes.

After a while of cleaning off your forehead, Sans took the large Band-Aid from your hand, carefully brushed your hair out of the way, and placed it properly. "There. All fixed up." He said with a wink, and you couldn't help but smile a bit.

"Thanks." You were glad you got to meet him, even if a gang may or may not be after you now. Ah well.

"No problem. It's the least I could do for someone that saved a friend from turning into dust."

You paused at that response. "Um…"

"SANS. THERE IS A COOKING SHOW AND THEY ARE DOING IT WRONG." Papyrus's voice cut through the air, startling you for a moment.

Sans smiled. "What are they doing bro?"

"THEY ARE MAKING PIZZA WITH THE SPAGHETTI. I MEAN HONESTLY THESE HUMANS…. It actually looks pretty good…" You laugh when you hear his voice tone down, more into the show.

Sans gives you his hand to help you up, and you both walk into the living room. Papyrus is sitting on the ground a few feet from the large TV, knees to his chest and intently watching the cooking show. You decide to watch along, sitting on the couch. There wasn't a particular rush to get the skeletons out of your home after all, a show or two would be just fine. Sans sat on the other side of the couch, grinning at how his brother seemed confused but interested in the show.

The cooks voice was rather monotone, and you found yourself taking extra long blinks before too long. You adjust your seat so your neck had support, but you tried to keep awake for your guests. Sleep stowed away with you soon enough anyway.


	2. Unpredictable Day

Spaghetti monsters, red sauce rivers, and a giant cook with greased back hair and a HP patch on his apron plague your dreams. The Cook chases you while occasionally eating one of the spaghetti monsters along the way while the crowd cheered. The tall skeleton you met before appears in front of you, wearing an excessively large red cape, and yelled at the cook. "Foolish opponent! You should have thought twice before challenging The Great and Mighty Papyrus!" He dramatically pushed you back and pulled his brother out of his hipbone pocket. Sans gave you a wink, and snapped his fingers as the world goes up in flames, the smell of burning pasta surrounding you.

A loud beeping wakes you up with a start, heart pounding from the incredibly strange dream you were having. It takes you a moment to realize that you aren't in your bed, and you are not home alone.

"SEIZE YOUR INFURIATING SOUNDS, SMALL DIVICE." A familiar voice shouts from your hallway. You stretch and rub your eyes, seeing your living room looking as usual, mess of dishes on the counter, TV still showing the cooking show, and a dark smoke filling the air. Scratch the last bit as being usual. You jump up and rush to the kitchen, seeing multiple pots fuming the black smoke on full flame. You turned the knobs to off and place lids onto the pots, coughing while trying to wave away the smoke. This wouldn't be the first time you had to deal with burning food, though this many pots being burnt at once is a home record.

You head into the hallway, seeing a tall skeleton struggling with the smoke detector in a panic. Giving him a quick pat to get his attention, you point to the red flashing light. He looks at it for a moment, presses the button, and sighs with relief when the noise quits. "THANK YOU, HUMAN."

"No problem… Papyrus." It took you a moment to remember his name. "I'm a bit surprised to see you still here." You say, looking back in the smoky living room to see if his brother was there. He wasn't.

"YOU FELL ASLEEP AND WE WERE CONCERNED. SANS HAS HEARD UNPLEASANT STORIES ABOUT BUMPS ON THE HEAD FOR HUMANS NOT ENDING WELL. I DECIDED TO COOK YOU A MEAL FOR BREAKFAST, BUT THE COOK ON TV LIED TO ME." Papyrus seemed pretty down about the burnt food.

"Hey, it's the thought that counts. We can just use up some of my leftovers." You pat his arm, almost thrown off due to only being bones. "Where's your brother?" You asked and headed back to the kitchen.

"OH. YOU KNOW. AROUND." He shrugged. The brothers seemed so close; it shocked you that Papyrus wouldn't know where Sans was.

A quick search in the fridge granted you a pizza box, still full other than a single missing piece. "Here we go." You hand it to Papyrus.

"IS THIS SPAGHETTI PIZZA?"

"Nah, just regular from down the block."

He seemed disappointed at that, but took a slice anyway. He flopped onto the couch and ate his slice, making you pause and watch for a moment. Bite, swallow, bite…. But you didn't see where the food went. There was plenty of neck room between his skull and his… armor? You should have been able to catch if the food went anywhere. You shrug to yourself and turn to your messy stove. The smell of burnt food is too much for you to eat right now, you might as well clean a bit.

You opened your dishwasher and started grabbing cooled dishes to put in. When you turned around, Sans was standing in the way. You scream and drop the plates.

Sans is quick to respond, stepping back just enough that the dishes don't land on his feet. "Whoa, uh, sorry for sneaking up on you." He held out a hand as if to help you calm down.

"Where did-? When-?" You put a hand up to your chest and leaned over the counter, it's been a long time since you had a scare like that. You focused on getting your breath back before trying to ask any more questions.

"I just stepped out to get replacement food for Papyrus's cooking. I didn't want him using up all of your goods while you slept." He gave a half smile and held out a plastic bag of groceries. You forcefully slowed your breathing, nodding.

"Well, thank you then…" You straightened up, patting your heart. "I swear you just about gave me a heart attack. How'd you get here so quietly? I didn't hear the door open."

"You didn't? Hehehe, you must have been pretty noisy." He laughed and turned around, putting the bag on the counter. You didn't think you were, but he had a point. No way anyone was _that_ quiet. You watched Sans grab a slice of pizza from the box and start eating, the food seeming to vanish into nothingness soon as he 'swallowed' it. Left once more with a mystery, you turn back to start cleaning again. Luckily this time no one else appeared.

.

After cleaning and opening a few windows, the apartment was finally clear of the smoke and you were hungry enough to enjoy a slice of cold pizza yourself. You sat on the couch between the brothers, watching some passing show Sans clicked to. A flamboyant robot was the main focus of the show, though it was confusing to what this show was supposed to be about. You didn't really care, you just enjoyed having others as company. If they weren't around you would probably have just been wasting time on the computer, as usual. You don't even know what you do half the time. It actually was amazing that you were able to be so comfortable around these monsters after only meeting them yesterday, you didn't know much other than their names.

"So." You speak first after a few short episodes. "Thanks for sticking around last night. Papyrus said you were worried about the bump on my head." You look at Sans. He glanced at you but kept his attention casually to the TV.

"Yep. You are the first human to stand up for a monster we've seen in a while." You catch a blue light flare from his eye for a split second, Sans seeming to not notice or care. "What can I say? I _tendon_ stick around good people."

You snort at his terrible pun. Your eyes widen and you quickly smack a hand over your mouth in embarrassment. Sans smiled bigger and turned his attention to you. You hear a quiet "Oh no," from behind you.

He raised an eyebrow, almost like he was intrigued. "What? That one wasn't even that _humerus_."

You stifle a laugh under your hand, and his smile grew. You could feel Papyrus shifting his weight on the other side of the couch, but you were too busy trying not to laugh at Sans's puns to care.

"Please, this is what I do, don't be so _stern-um_." You loose it. You laugh out loud before you can hold back, trying to keep other giggles from escaping your lips.

"THAT'S IT. IF YOU TWO ARE GOING TO DO THIS WHILE I AM IN THE ROOM, I AM LEAVING." Papyrus suddenly stood up and stomped towards the door.

"Aw come on bro! I personally thought I was being pretty _hip_." You can't help it, they are just so _awful_ you can't help but laugh.

"I'M GOING ON A WALK, AND I'M NOT COMING BACK UNTIL YOU GET THIS OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM." Papyrus yelled and slammed the door behind him, and you felt concerned if bone puns actually upset him. You doubted Sans would say them if they did, but-

"Hope he doesn't get sick from out there, I don't want him to start _coffin_." And there goes the last of your worries.

.

You two go on for hours, back and forth puns mostly about bones, plants, animals, before branching out to just about everything. You both are brought to tears at some point, though you aren't sure if Sans was laughing at your jokes or at how hard you were laughing at your own, but you didn't mind. Your puns distract the both of you so much that you missed the darkening of outside, or even noticing the rain when it started. You two continued to miss the weather until the first strike of thunder cut off the end of one of Sans's puns.

You waited for him to continue, but his smile only dropped and eyes widened. "Sans?" You asked, concerned.

"Papyrus." He whispered, whipping his head around to look out the window and seeing the rain pouring down. You could have sworn his skull paled slightly. You barely blinked and Sans was up, grabbing his jacket and pulling out his phone.

"Sans, what's wrong?" You asked, but he didn't answer.

He flipped open his phone and pressed a button. You could hear it ring…. ring…. ring… No answer. He closed it and pressed another button. It rang once before getting picked up.

"Talk shit get hit, its Undyne on the line." You heard the blue monster with red hair from before answer the phone.

"Undyne, is Papyrus with you?" Sans asked quickly, loosing his usual tone of voice.

"Nah, Alphys and I haven't seen him since yest-" He smacked his phone shut, opening it again and pressing the original button. No answer.

He flipped it open again, pressing the same button. Ring… ring… ring… Sans was shaking. He threw open the door and ran out into the rain. You quickly grabbed a jacket and followed, being sure to shut the door tightly. The wind was picking up, and you were glad you forgot about an umbrella.

"PAPYRUS!" Sans shouted, looking down the roads and alleyways. He kept trying the number frantically, only just letting the third ring finish before shutting the phone and trying again. You knew something must seriously be wrong.

You joined in calling Papyrus's name, and started running down alleyways you could picture him wandering down. During the day you have no problem walking down these, but in the dark, you could see why people stayed out of them. You ended up turned around, not recognizing this area of alley. You didn't care, right now, Papyrus was the only thing you needed to find.

Someone stepped in a puddle behind you, and you turned to face a human man. You didn't recognize him, but the way he was smiling at you was unnerving. "Hey there, you look lost-"

Before he could get any more words out, a blue light appeared around him, and he was slammed into the wall beside you. "Where is he?" You heard Sans next to you, causing you to jump. You could have sworn he was nowhere near you moments ago. His face seemed dark, a single blue eye shining in his left socket.

"I don't know what'chu mean-!" Sans swung his arm and sent the man flying, slamming him into another wall. The man gasped, loosing his breath.

"I SAID," Sans threw his arm down, the man moving just as fast and destroying a puddle, probably loosing a tooth or two as well. "WHERE." Slammed into a wall. "IS." Other wall. "MY BROTHER." Thrown up into the air before being slammed down into the ground. You were terrified. You were afraid the man was going to die, afraid of Sans's powers, but you were mostly afraid of Sans.

"I.. I d-don't…" The man struggled for breath under the pressure of the blue aura, trying to bring himself to his elbows. A flip phone fell out of his pocket.

Sans's eyes flared bright, the blue aura getting thicker around the man. "WAIT!" You finally shouted, grabbing Sans's arm. His lone blue eye darted to you, and you felt a shiver through your soul. Sans blinked, and the blue eye vanished, his regular pins of light appearing, but dim. The man coughed, finally able to breathe again.

You let go of Sans's arm and run to kneel by the man. You flip open the phone and see a picture of Papyrus in a "COOL DUDE" t-shirt. You felt your stomach drop. "Please, where is he?" You ask the man. You didn't expect a response, but he turned his head towards some dumpsters. You blinked and Sans was there, lifting the lid off of one side. You ran over there to help, and saw a tall, unconscious skeleton in the bin.

.

After an hour or so of struggling to carry Papyrus back to your place, you managed to get him in the spare bed. He didn't look well, to say the least. He was banged up pretty badly, mostly on his arms. Sans kept muttering something about him not defending himself, or not seeing a single bone in the alleys. You stayed mostly quiet, grabbing your first aid kit and dressing him the best you could. You couldn't just smack a Band-Aid on a bone and expect it to work, but other than wrapping the rather fragile looking parts and placing a towel on Papyrus's head, you didn't know what else to do. You heard plenty of bad stories coming from the local hospital about Monster patents, and you didn't want to risk bringing Papyrus there.

You did what you could, but you still had no idea what would happen. You tried to say something comforting to Sans, but it was like he didn't hear you. You placed a couple large glasses of water and a few towels on the nightstand, and said you would be back in a bit, closing the door for them. You stood outside the door for a while, not sure really what to do… You just… didn't know. That kind of thinking always scared you. A sound from behind the door broke you out of your self-doubt, a sob. You swallowed hard, and went to your living room to sit. Your pocket felt too tight, and you pulled Papyrus's phone out.

"I should probably her know…" You said to yourself, looking at the contacts and picking UNDYNE.

The first ring didn't even finish before it was picked up. "Papyrus! Your bro called-"

"No, sorry, its me." You coughed. "Uh, the human from yesterday." There was silence on the other side of the line. "We found Papyrus, he's… pretty banged up. He's okay though! Well, just not great. We wrapped him up the best we could, but I think he just needs some rest." Silence. "I just thought you should know, you guys seemed pretty close, and I didn't want you more worried than you needed to be."

You waited for a moment, you couldn't tell if she was still listening or… "Okay. I'll check up on him tomorrow."

You let go of a breath you didn't know you were holding. "Alright. I'll let Sans know-"

"Human?"

"Yeah?"

"You take care of them when I'm not around. If one of them turns to dust…" She sounded too quiet to be making a threat, but you swallowed and answered.

"Yeah, I'll do better to watch out for them." She hung up.

You sat on the couch for a bit, looking at the spot Sans was sitting just a few hours ago, cracking jokes, having the time of your life. You sneezed. You were still in wet clothes you realized, but you couldn't bring yourself to get off of the couch. You curled up against the arm, pulling out your phone and looking up recent monster news. Nearly every report ended with the monster being turned into dust, and you felt relieved that you and Sans didn't just discover some bones surrounded by a pile of dust. Something still felt off, but you were just too tired to keep thinking about it. Holding Papyrus's phone close to your chest, you fell asleep on the couch.


	3. Spaghetti Day

You woke up and immediately regretted sleeping on the couch for the second night in a row. "Agghhhhh…" You neck felt all sorts of messed up from being on the arm, not even massaging it seemed to help much. You got up and got a glass of water, only remembering what happened yesterday once you turned on the sink. You drop the cup and went to your spare room door. It was eerily quiet from the other side. Cracking it open to peak in, you managed to see Papyrus sitting up. He was reading a large book with Sans asleep next to him on a chair.

He looked up when he heard the door squeak. "Human?" He was surprisingly quiet, but you figured that was because of Sans.

"Hey, Papyrus, how are you feeling?" You sat on the other chair beside the bed, noticing that he was reading one of your cookbooks you forgot you had.

"Better than before, that's for sure." He said, putting the book down but keeping his place with a finger. "Thank you for finding me. I… was pretty scared last night." It looked like it was hard for him to admit that.

"Your brother was pretty scared for you. He got pretty scary when the man didn't tell us where you were at first." You suppressed a shiver, remembering Sans's powers.

"Sans? Nonsense, my brother is weak and defenseless, that's why I have to train and be the strong one in the family." Papyrus said with a laugh and wave of his hand. That… didn't sound right.

"If you say so." Maybe he didn't know for a reason, you weren't about to spill the beans. "So… What happened?"

"I… would rather not talk about it, if I am to be honest." He suddenly found the cover of the cookbook incredibly interesting, and started picking at the edges.

"Was it HP?" You asked anyway. If he didn't want to talk about it, he could at least answer a quick question. HP activities should be reported to the police; at least they might be able to do something about it. Papyrus took a moment, looking at the marks on his arms. They were already starting to fade, and it amazed you. Monsters healed a lot faster than you thought possible.

"I don't know." He finally answered. You saw that he was pretty troubled, and decided to drop it.

"Alright, I'll let you rest then. Do you want anything?" You stood up waiting for an answer.

"Spaghetti, please!" He smiled and you couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Sure, no problem." You left and closed the door behind you. He must just have a thing for spaghetti, you figured.

.

It was an easy enough thing to cook, as long as you didn't plan on getting too fancy with everything of course, and you didn't. Pot of water here, pot of sauce there, and you were left waiting for it to boil. You sat on the counter and pulled out your phone, scrolling to see recent news. You sit there for a few minutes before feeling like eyes were on you. You braced yourself, turned, and still yelped when Sans was standing a couple feet from you, looking at your phone over your arm.

"Jeez, you act like this never happens." He gave you a smile, though you saw the bags under his eyes.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?" He feigned innocence, looking like he was raising an eyebrow.

"That… teleport thing." You saw he was going to deny it and cut over whatever lame joke he had in store. "You used it yesterday, I saw it. Well, when I looked you weren't there, then I blinked and you were."

He was quiet for a moment, his grin dropping slightly. "You saw all of yesterday… and you question _that_?" He looked at you like he couldn't figure you out.

You tried to not think about the other thing you saw; instead you focused on putting the hard spaghetti into the now boiling water. "Yep. I mean, how handy would it be to teleport to the store real quick? You'd never be worried about forgetting to grab something." You half-joked. "Never mind the fact you wouldn't have to be concerned with having a bad date. Awkward racist comment? Sweet person but rude to waitresses? Ask for you to pay the bill? Poof, outta there." Sans laughed at your excessive cover.

"Heheh… Speaking from experience?" He leaned against the counter, more interested the more you talked.

"Yes to everything except the part about being able to teleport." You smile, glad that you were able to get him to chuckle. "I'd never be late for anything ever again! I can't tell you how many times I was late for work because the bus decided to not show up. And why only go that far? I could literally sleep until last minute only to poof to where I needed to be." You got more into thinking about being able to teleport, and you started to pay less attention to the noodles. You blinked between thoughts, and suddenly saw blue next to you. You jumped and managed to suppress your scream.

"Don't forget all of the scaring possibilities." Sans said with a smile. You resisted the urge to pull him off of the counter.

"How could I forget that?" You laughed sarcastically, earning a bigger smile from Sans. You turn your attention back to the noodles, seeing they were almost done. Suddenly you had a thought and looked at Sans. "Can you bring others with you too?" Sans put a hand to his chin, looking thoughtful for a moment, clearly for show. You got excited, and he poked you in your shoulder. You felt a chill run down your spine but didn't feel much of anything else. Disappointed, you turned back to the noodles, only to see a sink in front of you.

"What?" You turned around, and noticed that Sans teleported you less than a foot and turned you around. You paused a moment before letting out a laugh, exhilaration flooding your body for a moment. "That is AMAZING!" You jumped and hugged Sans from the counter from excitement of this discovery, before realizing you were hugging Sans. "Oh, sorry!" You quickly let go and turned back to the stove. "Ever since I was little I always wanted superpowers, or at least be a sidekick to a superhero. I guess I finally got my wish!" You laughed, but noticed Sans has gone quiet. Maybe you went too far with the hug…

You dished up the pasta with some sauce onto three plates, holding out two for Sans. "Here, you want anything to drink?" You pull out some cups and open up the fridge.

"You have any ketchup?" You pause for a moment. Trying not to think too hard on it, you grab your half empty bottle of ketchup from the door.

"Yep. Does Papyrus usually have anything?" You handed sans the bottle and started pouring your own refreshment. Sans flipped up the cap and shrugged his shoulders.

"Nah, if he wants something he'll let you know." He squirted some ketchup into his mouth. "….What?" He looked at you. You were staring, and you knew you were staring, but you couldn't stop.

"Did you just-?"

"Yep." He did it again. You blinked.

"I guess I'll have to grab more ketchup next grocery run for you." Sans laughed.

"Really? You have got to be messing with me." He shook his head. "Most humans freak out or get grossed by that, and you just think you need to upgrade your shopping list?"

You shrug. "Some people like seafood, you like ketchup." He laughed more, humored at your way of thinking. He grabbed the plates and tucked the ketchup bottle under his arm, heading to Papyrus's room.

.

Papyrus enjoyed the Spaghetti, saying how you must be a very famous cook for your excellent skills. Sans moved his food around on the plate and added to the conversation, but you never actually seen him take any bites. Even so, his spaghetti vanished from his plate. Every so often he would squirt some ketchup into his mouth and you tried not to stare, but you couldn't help thinking about future recipes to use with ketchup. Maybe he would even eat them.

Half way through the meal you suddenly jumped, remembering Undyne's conversation from yesterday. Sans waved at your concerns. "Don't worry about it, I'll call her and give her directions here."

When everyone was done (for being the only one owning a stomach, oddly, you were the last to finish) Papyrus said he wanted to sleep some more, he was having pleasant dreams and couldn't wait to get back to them. You grabbed the dishes and headed back to the kitchen to drop them into the sink.

"So, have any chores you need to get done? Now's the best time to do it." Sans appeared beside you, for once not causing you to jump.

"Not really, I have a simple place so… OH GOD." You quickly run to your room, Sans trailing. "I can't believe I forgot about you. Poor baby." You flick the light on and head to a large glass cage in the corner of your room. Sans paled.

"Baby?" He looked over your shoulder, wanting to see your apparent child.

You popped off the lid to one of the cages and pulled out a small ball python curling around your hand. "I'm sorry Samus, how you doing sweet thing?"

"What the _hell_ is _that_?" You look back and see Sans standing on your bed, keeping his eye sockets trained on the creature around your hand.

"Oh this is- wait, you never seen a _snake_?" You stand and turn around, keeping Samus close to your chest. She started to stretch her neck towards the bed, much to the concern of Sans.

"No, I never seen a… 'snake.'" You laughed, but it did make sense in your head. Sans always wore a winter jacket, and monsters came from underground. There likely weren't any snakes there because they would be too cold, far as you could figure.

"You want to hold her? I need to change out her water." You could see curiosity flicker across his face, but mostly uncertainty. "Come on, she doesn't bite unless you are a mouse."

" _That thing eats mice_?" You laughed again, holding out Samus for him.

"And you like ketchup. Here, she just wants something to climb on. Just hold out your hand and let her pretend you are a tree." He hesitated, but stepped forward and sat on the edge of your bed. You grabbed his hand with your free one, unwrapped the snake from your arm and placed her into his hand. Samus wrapped around his boney hand and started looking at him.

"Its tongue keeps licking the air."

"That's how she smells."

" _What_."

You chuckled, running your fingers over Samus's scales in a pet. She tightened around Sans's hand a little, and he looked nervous. "Just let her do her own thing, feel free to pet her. She's a bit skittish with her head." You pat Sans on the head and he looked at you uncertain. It made you smile seeing the scary monster from yesterday be this nervous around a small snake. He didn't seem to be scared as much as unsure of it, which had to be rare for Sans. "You'll be fine, I'll be right back." You grab her water dish from the cage and head to the kitchen.

You tried to be quick, cleaning out her dish and filling it with cool water, but the sink only had warm water for a long moment. It finally got cold and you mentally thanked your neighbors. When you came back you saw Sans sitting with a thousand yard stare, slightly shaking, empty handed. "Where's Samus?" You asked, quickly putting the water down and looking around the bed. She occasionally liked to explore your room and wedge herself between your bookshelves, but you would be shocked if she made it that far in such a short time.

" _It'sinmysleeve_." His words rushed together and shook. You looked at his arm and saw a slight bulge traveling up his sleeve.

"Its ok, she's not going to do anything. Help me get your jacket off." You stepped forward and tugged at his sleeves a bit, though he was as still as a statue. "You can move a little, you wont crush her." He shook his head and kept his jaw clinched. You swore you could see sweat beading on his forehead. You struggled with his jacket a bit, luckily it was a few sizes bigger than it needed to be and you managed. "Oh..." Even though he was quite literally a skeleton, you kept forgetting details about a skeleton. Like how they basically are a tree for Snakes, and have plenty of bones to weave through. You only saw the end of Samus's tail disappearing through Sans's tank top arm opening, but you could see the bulges where she wrapped around his ribs.

Sans shut his eyes and looked incredibly uncomfortable, hands un-flexing and flexing into fists, sweating bullets, breathing short and fast. "Gosh, I'm so sorry. She usually doesn't go under clothing-" Sans finally gasped out and pulled his tank top off by grabbing from the back. You thought you saw blue from his eye. You swallowed. Weaving through his ribs Samus crawled, seeming to enjoy her new playground. She was climbing up now, and brushed against the inside of his sternum. Sans jumped, pulling a hand to his chest before smacking it down and grabbing the bed.

" _Help_." He whispered, eyes still closed. You were trying to figure out a way to help without touching his bones, they seemed like they were uncomfortable to the touch. Samus had more than enough bones to wrap around and resist being moved if you tried pulling her, you had to be smart if you wanted to be fast as you could.

"Okay… I'm going to reach in and try untangling her, okay?" Sans nodded, gripping the bed tighter. You put your hand under his ribcage for a moment, took a breath, and lifted your hand. You had your hand in someone's ribcage. Living ribcage. You quickly got over your realization moment and lightly grabbed Samus at the lowest loose part of her body, and she immediately tightened up. "Sorry…" You whispered, hearing Sans suck in a breath.

You worked with Samus for what felt like an hour, though in reality it couldn't be more than a couple minutes. No doubt it felt even longer for Sans. You gently pushed and pulled Samus back out of the ribs she worked though, muttering a "sorry," whenever you brushed a bone and saw Sans flinch, and finally unhooked her tail. You stood up with a "There, you're free." Sans burst up and out of the room, causing you to jump back and out of his way. You shrank, swallowing.

You really messed up.

Placing Samus back in her cage and being sure to tighten the lid, you stood by the glass for a while. You didn't hear a door open or close, then again, Sans doesn't need to use the door. Far as you know, he just teleported back to his apartment, vowing never to return. The thought weighted heavy in your gut.

"Bad girl." You whispered to Samus, who looked utterly pleased with herself.

Stepping out of your room, you were surprised to see Sans leaning over the kitchen sink, face dripping with water. He was breathing pretty hard and slightly shaking.

"Hey…" You spoke, feeling too loud in the quiet room. Sans jumped. Any other time you would have taken pride in spooking him as payback, but you didn't feel any satisfaction now. Sans looked at you with a single blue eye. You stepped back, but in a blink it was replaced with the two pins of light. You wet your lips, trying to think. Usually you don't have this hard of a time thinking of something to say, but words just weren't finding you.

"I'm sorry… I forgot-… no I-I didn't think… I'm really sorry." The ground was easier to look at. "I had no idea your bones would be that uncomfortable- or even if she would climb you! U-usually she doesn't like new people, see, so she usually just f-falls off of them and runs away. Snakes cant run, h-ha, yeah, um." Now the words were just tumbling out of your mouth faster than you could think. You couldn't help it, and you couldn't look at Sans in the face. "Like for a full minute I forgot you were all bones, you know? So you were all _'in my sleeve'_ and I was all _'no big deal'_ and… Oh _god_ I'm so sorry. I-I never meant for you… I'm such an idiot." You wrapped your arms around yourself and looked over to the wall, feeling heat rushing to your face.

"No its ok, I'm fine, see?" Sans stood in front of you, hands out as if to show he was okay. You still couldn't look at him. "Its just, my bones are _really_ _sensitive_ and that thing was _really scary_. I'm fine now!" There was a crack on your wall you haven't noticed before. "Hey." You wondered what the crack came from. "Human." What paint would look best if you redesigned your apartment? Sans said your name, shocking you out of your thoughts. "Look at me." Your jaw tightened with a swallow, and you slowly turned to look at him. You almost laughed, or sobbed, your head hasn't made up its mind yet. He was looking concerned for _you_ , when you were the one sending him through that horrible mess.

"Yeah, that was a bit… uncomfortable for me," he lightly grabbed your arms and to keep your attention on him. "I overreacted because I had no idea _what_ to do. I never had something like… _that_ under my bones, you know?" You shook your head, you didn't know. "See, I may be called a monster, but that thing is a _beast_ for all I know, and it was just crawling all over inside of me." He kept talking fast, not wanting to loose your attention. "I didn't know what to do, and I was worried about moving because I have these rattle-ly bones, and I didn't want to crush your baby, and it just wouldn't stop tickling me-" He paused.

"Wait… Your bones are… ticklish?" You asked, finally feeling your face cool slightly.

He gave a sheepish smile, considering his words. "They are… sensitive."

"Oh GOD." You shout, before remembering Papyrus was sleeping. "I thought you were in pain!" The amount of relief you felt was palpable.

"No, heh, not quite." Sans rubbed the back of his head. He was looking a lot better now. "Sorry to scare you like that-"

"Scare _me_? I'm the one that supposedly put a beast in your chest." You both laughed a little, both equally relieved for each other.

"Really though, next time you need me to play with your, uh, 'snake,' warn me so I can wear something it cant crawl into." He gave a half smile, and you nodded.

You two stood there for a moment, unsure what to do next, when you heard a knocking at the door. Sans looked down. "Heh, I guess I have my-" You roll your eyes and push him back to your room, interrupting his pun.

"Get your shirt on." You laugh.

"Come on, that was bound _tibia_ good one!" You groaned and headed to the door. You unlocked and opened it, suddenly face-to-chest of a fanged fish monster. Her eyes glared down at you.

"Oh! Hey Und-!" Her fist found the collar of your shirt.

"Where's Papyrus?"


	4. Spirit Day

Your legs dangled in the air as the fish monster held you. Her sharp yellow eyes glared at you, causing you to swallow.

"Um." You start, stumbling over your thoughts.

"Yo Undyne. Sup?" Sans walked beside you, fully clothed, greeting her as if she wasn't holding you a foot off of the ground.

She glanced between the two of you for a moment before dropping you to the ground. "Nothing much, just came to check up on the dork. How's he?" You stepped more into your living room to welcome her in, trying not to let your nervousness show. Undyne looked around the room, interested in seeing where exactly her skeletal roommates had been staying the last couple nights.

"Better, but probably resting. Let me see for you." Sans walked to the hallway to check up on Papyrus, leaving you with Undyne. You weren't sure what to think of her. Back at the parking lot she looked proud of you for standing up against HP, now she looked pissed at the fact you let Papyrus get hurt.

"I know I'm easy on the eyes, but I'm taken." She smiled, showing off her massive teeth. You realized you were staring at her.

"Oh sorry, didn't mean to stare. Just still getting used to monsters in my house, you know?" You gave a nervous laugh and rubbed your arm, looking away.

"He's awake." Sans walked in and started putting on his jacket. "Would you mind staying with him for a bit? I need some fresh air, and I don't want him being alone." He looked up at Undyne, who nodded.

"No problem." She walked to the hallways, but looked at you. "Don't forget what I said, human." She smiled in a way that she could have been almost cute, if you didn't know she mean it in a threat. Or maybe she didn't. Damn, sometimes monsters were just hard to read.

Sans said your name, grabbing your attention. "Come on, let's go on a walk." You nodded, feeling like a walk would be great. You were a little uncertain about leaving your home unattended, but you trusted Sans and Papyrus… You might as well trust Undyne as well. Grabbing your coat and hat, you followed Sans out of the door.

.

"You guys kinda took over my life, huh?" You laughed next to Sans.

"Oh? What do you mean?" His eyes drifted from store to store, looking at all of the black and orange decorations showing up.

"I never even spoke to a monster before you guys saved me in the parking lot, well, other than like one time at a bar. Now its like you guys live with me." You smile, enjoying the scent some a pumpkin-spice something or other. "Its nice. I was getting… _bonely_ before you guys."

Sans snorted a laugh, not expecting that pun from you. "Well, glad to give you a _hand_." He stopped on the sidewalk. You slow down and look at what he was looking at, and held back a laugh.

"Yeah, skeletons are pretty popular for Halloween." You looked at the decoration of the store, some bath product one that you never glanced at before. Sans blinked, looking at all the other stores around and spotting quite a few skeletons.

"Halloween?" He asked, curious. Your jaw dropped.

"You guys didn't have Halloween?" He shook his head. "You are going to love this!" You quickly grab his boney hand and walk quicker into the downtown shopping area. The buildings always took your breath away, towering and beautifully designed. This area tends to be a tourist hot spot and slightly more expensive, but you enjoyed the occasional visit with friends. Pumpkins with various faces lined the area, supporting spider webs and the occasional witch broom. Halloween was still a week away, but stores were really trying to get into the spirit for the shoppers.

"I'm… confused." Sans said, though he seemed like he was enjoying the decorations.

You couldn't remember all of the details of history for the season, but you tried your best. "Every year, we dedicate a day of All Hallows Eve, or basically Halloween. A looooong time ago it was thought of a day where the dead can visit, and so a bunch of traditions came from it. People wore disguises and costumes to keep the bad spirits away, gave gifts to strangers to show their generousness, and make pumpkin lanterns to help guide good spirits around." You heard a store worker snort at you; you probably got some details wrong. Sans didn't need to know that. "So now it's just an awesome day to wear costumes, get free candy, and carve into pumpkins with friends and family. We also pumpkin spice _everything_."

Sans nodded, though he still wasn't sure on some things. "So… what's with all of the dead people?" He motioned to a set of Frankenstein monsters, mummies, and vampires. Another skeleton was chilling besides them.

"Monsters are a big deal to Halloween." You clarify before catching yourself. "Well, not your kind of monsters. The made up kind in horror movies. Being scared is another tradition we made, we usually go on horror movie marathons around this time."

"Seems… fun." Sans said, looking closer at the "monsters" in the shops. "These are 'monsters' to you guys? They look just like you, no offense."

You laugh loudly in agreement. Your favorite kinds of monsters usually were the inhuman ones, but a majority of them were focused around humans anyway. "They all have classic stories, back when we were really bad at making movies. I can show you some if you want?"

"Sure. Sounds entertaining." He laughed and you felt excited.

.

The next couple hours were spent going from store to store, trying to fully show Sans the spirit of Halloween. You bought a few classic horror movies, pumpkin spiced food and drinks, and even went to Muffet's Bakery. You heard about the monster bakery opening up, but never managed to get around to it until now. Surprisingly, Sans knew the spider woman. Turns out she was new to the season as well, but she was absolutely enjoying it. She never had so much business for her spider goods. You contributed, buying a cupcake and earning a smile.

After a bit of shopping, you noticed the sky getting orange, ready for sunset. You smiled. "Come on, there's another place I need to show you." You grab your bags and walk with Sans down the sidewalk until the buildings opened up, reviling a large park. The entire area was decorated from sidewalk to lamppost to tree, there were pumpkins or spider webs, along with other spooky decorations scattered about. You stepped off the path and lead Sans through the trees.

"When I was little I used to always come here with my parents." You say, holding back branches for Sans to walk through. He looked around, curious to where you were bringing him. "It's been a while since I've been here, but hopefully…" You pass under another branch and smile. A massive willow tree was in the middle of the park, no paths in the park leading to or from it.

"Whoa." You heard from behind you. You smiled leading him closer to the tree. Sans was in awe of the willow, he mentioned something about only having pine trees back at his old place. He reached up, brushing the curtain-like leaves to the side and watching them flow.

You sit down at the base of the tree, patting the ground next to you. Sans takes your offer and slides down, putting the shopping bags to the side. " _Whoa_." He says for the second time. The view was absolutely beautiful, just like how you remembered it. The willow leaves blew in the breeze, allowing you to see all of the orange lights and decorations of the park and the buildings peaking behind the trees. A few flickering lights appeared in the air the longer you looked, Fireflies waking up with the sun setting.

It was magical. All of time seemed to slow down and suddenly you just became aware of everything of that moment. No thinking of tomorrow or family or bills or any stupid thoughts, only this moment. The ground was cold underneath you, dirt and grass surprisingly soft, crumbling in your grip. The willow was rough against your back, your hair moving from the same breeze that moved the leaves. Little lights flickered in the air, daring to get closer to the two of you.

You heard Sans sigh, and you look over to see a smile on his face. Not his usual grin, or his charming smirk, just a content smile. "Enjoying the view?"

He looked at you, smile growing slightly. "Yeah." He leans back against the tree more, reclining and getting comfy. He has the right idea, you figure, and do the same. The sun was completely gone now, just the barest hints of stars showing up. "This is nice." You agree, feeling your blinks getting slightly longer. The hum of the busy stores was distant, muffled from the trees, and in a way soothing to listen too.

You look over to Sans, seeing his eyes were closed. Papyrus and Undyne will be fine if you are out for a little longer, you figure, and close your eyes as well.

.

You are shaken awake from your dreamless sleep, feeling the world shift and jerk. You open your eyes to a blue jacket, realizing you were sleeping on Sans. Embarrassed you quickly sit up, seeing him still asleep. His face was frowning, eyebrows drawn tightly together. "Sans?" You ask quietly, wanting to ease him awake. He jerked, hands gripped into fists and flinching. You noticed he was sweating pretty hard. "Sans, wake up. You are having a bad dream."

A blue light started peaking through his closed eye socket, causing you to get worried. You gently placed your hands on his arm, shaking gently. "Sans, please, listen. Its just a bad dream." His head moved to the other side, grinding his teeth. You don't know what could be so bad to be causing this much distress, but you needed to help. "Sans." You said a little louder, pressing a hand to his chest to keep him from moving so much.

His eyes sprung open, pure black except the bright blue light looking straight at you. You couldn't move. Sans shot his arm out, and you suddenly were flying in the air. You screamed as the air wooshed past you, unable to keep your breath. The ground was far from under you, and you alternated between simply screaming and cursing as you felt your momentum slow, floating in the air for a moment. It would have been a beautiful view of the night, if the blue aura around you didn't suddenly vanish, and the ground started coming closer very quickly.

You curled up, wrapping your arms around your head and screaming bloody murder for anyone to help. You screamed, and screamed… and… paused. You peaked open an eye to see the ground an inch away, separated by a slight blue glow. The glow vanished, and you dropped onto the ground with a small "oomph."

Your brought your shaking body to your hands and knees as you tried to slow down your breathing. "Fuck, are you okay?" You feel a hand on your shoulder. You look over to Sans with his eyes back to normal, fully awake.

You meant to laugh and wave him off, to tell him you are fine, but you only managed a weak and shaky "Haaa..aa.a…" That didn't seem to comfort him much.

"I am so, so sorry." He swallowed, well, you think. "I was having a nightmare." You nod, you knew that much.

"Heh… You… got me." You weakly laugh, sitting onto your knees and placing a hand to your fast beating heart. He looked confused. "Boo!" You waved your hands in a mock scare. "Scared… in the spirit of Halloween!" You laugh a little stronger now. He could tell you were trying hard to lighten the mood.

"N… No, really, are you okay? Do I need to call someone?" He looked distressed. You noticed his hands knotting together, looking like one was going to touch you but quickly pulled back by the other. He was afraid he was going to hurt you.

You shook your head quickly, waving a hand. "Nah, that was… terrifyingly fun. Like a rollercoaster." You attempt a smile, but were only met with confusion.

"Why do you do this?" He asked, eyebrows lowering slightly.

"Do what?" You adjusted your knees slightly to be more comfortable.

" _This_." He waved at you, voice a little louder now. "You see terrible things, or go through something like… _that_ , and you just laugh it off!" He was angry, you realized. "You could have gotten seriously hurt, or killed, and you just joke about it, or make a stretched silver lining for it!"

You looked at the ground, putting your hands on your knees. For being the taller one of the two of you, you sure felt small at the moment. You did do that, but you didn't have much of a reason to give him. "I… just enjoy being happy."

You weren't looking at him, but you could see Sans stiffen slightly from the corner of your eye. "There's no use in being negative, it only drives people away. I don't want to drive you away." You say the last part a little quieter than the rest, but it was the most true of what you said. You liked having Sans around. There was something that made you feel more alive being with this short skeleton, a feeling you were starting to miss before he showed up.

Sans stood up, brushing the dirt off of his knees. "…Sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you. Or… thrown you into the air."

You laugh quietly, looking up at him. "Its okay. It was actually fun, minus the part I thought was going to crash." He hesitated for a moment, but offered his hand to help you up. You took his offer and stood, brushing the dirt off of yourself.

The two of you grabbed your bags from the willow tree and started heading back to your place. The lights from the buildings were off; only the lampposts and the stray car giving you light to find your way. The walk was quiet, but not uncomfortably so, it gave you two the peace of your own mind while being in each other's company. When you finally got home you saw it 1:15 flickering on your TV, surprising you it wasn't later in the night.

"So, our night is shot. You want to watch the crappy movies we bought?" You suggest to Sans, and he looked relieved he doesn't have to try to go back to sleep.

"Sounds good." He gave a smile. You popped in the first CD of the stack, not bothering to look at which one it was.

You two sat on your couch curled under a massive blanket, eating spider-baked goods and watching black and white crappy films, all in the spirit of Halloween.


	5. Nice Day

You don't remember falling asleep last night. You vaguely recall trying to explain the logic of shocking dead bodies and how it was supposed to bring them back alive, and Sans personally taking offense at that science. You also remember dropping a cookie and dramatically reaching and yelling for it, cheering when Sans used his teleport for the _very important_ duty of retrieving it for you. You can partially recall when Undyne came out of your room and yelled at you two for being loud at ungodly times of the morning, before slamming the door and snoring less than a minute later.

You do not, however, remembering how you ended up sleeping on top of Sans. Your head was on his chest, arms wrapped around him like he was a stuffed animal. One leg was between his and the other partially hanging off of the couch, tangled with the blanket you must have kicked off sometime last night.

You woke up minutes ago, but still couldn't bring yourself to move. If you followed your first impulse to jump and get off you would have surly woken him up, and you most definitely did not want that. You glance up at his face slowly, trying not to move too much, and saw his eye sockets still closed. If you weren't too preoccupied at the moment, you probably would have been more interested in seeing how they did that.

Unfortunately, here you were, holding and sleeping on Sans like a pillow. You tried to see how much you could move, maybe you could slowly slip out, and he would never have to know. You shifted your weight, pulling your hands from underneath him and braced yourself to push up from the sides. Before you could try, Sans grumbled a little and moved his hands a little. You felt them on your back.

 _Fuck._

You were royally screwed. There was no other way to describe it. Your mind rushed as you tried to come up with some solution, but stumbled over itself every time Sans moved. You could just wait it out, but Sans would wake up and-no nope no you wouldn't be able to look at him after that. You took a deep breath and tried to slow down your thoughts. Maybe if you acted like you just jumped on him- then this situation would be what you "wanted," or that's what Sans would think. You felt your mind starting to scramble again. The sun was up, the birds where singing, and you knew you were going to have an unenjoyable experience soon.

Jumping between thoughts, you suddenly noticed that Sans was _breathing_. Not as frequent as a human would, but you could feel his ribs slightly rising and lowering every so often under your head. That made you curious, distracting you from your escape plan. If he breathed then… You listened to his ribs, curious.

He didn't have a heartbeat, thank god. You wouldn't have known how to respond to that if he did. He did, however, have an almost… humming coming from his bones. You gently pushed your ear closer, trying to make it out more. It was a quiet, hardly noticeable hum like pulse. It almost sounded like sand falling over itself, but even then that description wasn't quite right. You suppose it was his magic flowing under his bones, but you couldn't help but think that it was incredibly soothing to listen to. You closed your eyes. Maybe a few more minutes of sleep could do you good…

"SANS! I HAVE THE MOST GLORIOUS OF NEWS!" Shouting suddenly shocked you out of your relaxed state, causing you to scream and jump off of the couch and trip over the blanket around your feet. You crashed onto the ground, hearing an "Oh, my apologies, Human," from the hallway entrance.

You look up to see Papyrus standing there, perfectly healed. "Sup bro?" Sans asked behind you, seeming not startled in the slightest. You could feel your face getting warmer already. Oh boy, today was going to be a long day.

"I have come to you to announce that I am well enough to stand!" Papyrus gave a jump, as if to show off his healing progress. "Along with other things." He smiled. You sat up on the ground, trying to keep your heart from racing out of your chest.

"That was quick." You commented, surprised that he didn't have a single scratch left on him. Monsters were something else entirely. "Glad you are feeling better, you want to do anything to celebrate?"

"Oh yes! Some puzzles would be wonderful!" He looked excited and you didn't have it in your heart to tell him you haven't had a puzzle since you were quite young. You thought back to a few conversations with Sans, remembering that his puzzles were more obstacle courses than anything else.

"Er, sure! There is a place not too far, probably not what you are used to but-"

"Sounds great! Lets go!" Papyrus leapt and ran out of the door, not even giving you a chance to finish your sentence. Sans laughed.

"Come on, let's catch him before he gets too far." Sans got up from the couch and slipped on his slippers, waiting at the door for you. Luckily you were still in yesterday's clothing already, so you quickly got up and put on your shoes.

.

Papyrus was excited to be walking around, if it could be considered that. His strides were so long and quick, he seemed to run circles around you and Sans just to keep the same pace. "That bed was very comfy, so please do not think I am not grateful, but it sure does feel good to be back outside." He would charge ahead and wait a moment, before briskly walking back to the two of you. He reminded you of a golden retriever.

Sans, on the other hand, reminded you more of a pug more than anything. Slow, calm, always grinning. Even though he was shorter and seemed to be taking less steps, he was perfectly in pace with you. You couldn't tell if he was using his teleport to simply walk around, but you felt a bit of envy at the thought.

After some walking, you and the skeleton brothers finally got to your so-called puzzle. "Here we are." You motioned to the playground in the park. To be fair, it was quite a large obstacle course. There were tires on the ground, giant metal cages, monkey bars, swings, slides, spring horses, sandbox, even a basketball court off to the side. This place had it all. Schools commonly brought kids here after fieldtrips, it was guaranteed to tire them out. Hopefully that applied to Papyrus as well.

"This is the place?" Papyrus asked, getting quiet and looking around. You swallowed.

"Yep. It's what us humans call a Playground. Younger humans like to challenge each other here, seeing who can be the most physically fit and such." You embellished a little, but you wanted Papyrus to have a good time.

Apparently you said the right thing. He immediately started running through the park and towards the giant metal cage sphere. It looked the most challenging, obviously. Sans laughed, looking at you in a way that said that he knew what this place was.

"Nice Cream?" Sans asked, motioning to a cart that was parked down the sidewalk. A blue bunny-like person was leaning against it, looking almost asleep.

"I can always use ice cream." You nod, Sans smirks. When you two walk over to the cart, you see why he said "Nice Cream" instead. It was literally Nice Cream, which you never heard of before. Shrugging and paying the excited rabbit monster for both yours and Sans's Nice Cream, you two headed to the swings of the park.

He hopped up on a seat beside you, pulling the wrapper off of his red frozen treat. You did the same, noticing a "You look nice today!" written on the inside. Your Nice Cream was a deep blue. Uncertain, you gave it a lick. It tasted like much sweeter 'sour blue raspberry' than normal ice cream, but thankfully not sickeningly so. You turned to Sans to comment on it, but saw him simply holding his Nice Cream as he swung slightly.

"Did you just want the Nice Cream for the compliment on the wrapper?" You ask, cracking a smile. You wouldn't mind if that was the case, he seemed picky on the food he actually ate. He looked at you with a cocky smile, eyes flashing slightly. His left eye flared blue, and something glowing peaked behind his teeth. You watched as a glowing blue tongue slipped out of his mouth, partially wrapped around the Nice Cream in a lick, before darting back in his mouth.

You blink. "What."

He started chuckling. Then he started laughing hard, to the point that he almost dropped the Nice Cream. "I'm sorry, but that look was priceless!" He looked like he was almost crying from laughing, the chain of the swing clanking against itself in his shakes. You stared at his mouth, completely shocked that he had a tongue. Looking amused with your reaction (and holding back more laughs), the blue left his eye and he opened his mouth for you to see. Just darkness. You leaned closer to look more, not even trying to hide your utter fascination with his body.

Smiling more now, he closed his mouth. With a flare of his eye and dangerous smile, his tongue appeared, giving another lick to his Nice Cream. "What? You think I would bite into cold treats with my teeth? I may be a monster and lacking a brain, that doesn't stop brain freezes from happening." He laughed and continued to lick the treat. Yours was left unattended for a moment, before you felt a cold drip land on your leg and caused you to jump.

You quickly lick up the melting edges of your treat while being careful to not make a mess. "That's, um," you start, trying to cover the fact you just were fascinated with his tongue, "a cool trick." He snorts.

"I can do a lot more than that." A chill runs down your spine as you quickly look away and stop your mind from thinking about what he said. You focus on your Nice Cream. After a moment of silent swinging, Sans leaned over. "Er, sorry. I guess-"

"SANS! HUMAN! LOOK! I HAVE CONQUERED THIS SMALL BUILDING!" Papyrus shouted, drawing both of your attentions. He was standing on the top of the roof of the slides, holding onto the little flag and waving at you feverously. Part of you wonders how he got up there. The other part wonders what took him so long.

"Way to go bro!" Sans said loudly, swinging slightly. Papyrus seemed happy enough with the cheer, and continued exploring around the park. You started to swing too, not very intent on gaining speed because of your treat, but it was soothing to feel the air move around you.

The two of you swung in silence for a bit, it was the first semi-awkward moment you had with him. Every time you wanted to talk you would look over to him, see his glowing tongue, and quickly go back to your Nice Cream. You were thankful when both of you finally finished them and chewing on the wood stick.

"Want a push?" Sans finally broke the silence, seeming a little quieter than his usual self. You weren't expecting the offer, but it was tempting.

"Sure." You smile, looking over to Sans. He didn't get off of his swing. Instead his left eye flared blue, and you felt your body quickly be pushed forward. The push was low enough that you didn't fall off of the swing, thankfully, but it caught you off guard. You yelp and hold onto the chain tighter, watching as the blue aura vanished once you were high enough, and let you swing. You couldn't help but laugh and start swinging with your legs. It feels like its been forever since you were on a swing.

"Who knew powers could be so multi-purpose?" You chuckled, looking back at Sans. He was quietly smiling while looking at Papyrus run around the park, but not as big as his real smiles. This one didn't touch his eyes. "Is something wrong?"

He shook his head, thinking. "No. Its… Nice. This is real, and I can't quite wrap my head around it." You wondered what he meant, and when he looked at you he could see your expression. "Back underground… Nothing was quite real, not really. Something you did today could be changed tomorrow, and that was that." He seemed so… sad. Then a little angry. "Sometimes you couldn't wait until tomorrow." A loud clang rang through the park when you looked you saw Papyrus impossibly tangled in the monkey bars. "Up here… its different. It matters. Mistakes last, choices change more than the next few days."

His eye suddenly flashed, causing him to groan and put a hand to his skull. "Sans?" You ask, dragging your feet into the ground to slow your swing.

"I'm good." He straightened up, you could see the barest hint of sweat at his forehead. "Just… having a headache."

You stand up and hear a pop from your knees. Sans flinched. "Sorry." You realize how weird sounding it must be to hear someone else's joints pop. "I have some Advil back home, you can have some if you want."

Sans nodded, hopping down from the swing. "Come on bro, you can come back later if you want." Sans called to Papyrus, who tripped over a tire.

"I shall be right there!" Papyrus shouted, brushing off the wooden chips that clung to his scarf. He ran to you guys, and it looked like your plan to tire him out wasn't entirely successful. Ah well.

.

The walk home was mostly uneventful. The three of you made causal conversation about random things, and you took interest in their home in the underground. Apparently they had Christmas, which shocked you, along with night and day without a sun. It all seemed very strange to you, but absolutely fascinating. Sans didn't seem as interested in talking about it as his brother, who went on and on to explain how every day was something new. It was like the two of them had entirely different experiences within the same town.

"And that's when I captured Frisk!" Papyrus declared loudly, utterly pleased with his accomplishment. "They ended up having a scraped knee, and I felt so bad!" His expression dramatically changed. You laughed.

"Well, I'm glad you all made it out." You said while looking at them, noticing Sans keeping quiet and looking at the ground. You didn't draw attention to it. Thankfully your place was just a little ahead.

You stepped up to your door to unlock it, and heard intense music playing inside. You open the door to see Undyne furiously doing one-handed pushups to another show with the robot from before on it.

"'Bout time you -huff- nerds showed up. I was starting to –huff- wonder where you went off to." She switched arms while looking at you. Holy shit she was built. Papyrus rushed into the room and started doing pushups as well, still somehow having energy after how long of playing at the park. You laughed.

"I'll be right back." You told Sans, walking to the bathroom and grabbing Advil for him. You poured a glass of water and gave it to him while watching the others work out.

"Thanks." He gave a weak smile. "I think I might lie down for a bit. Wake me if you need me." Sans headed to the spare room, hardly kicking off his slippers half way down the hall. You didn't want to disturb him, so you sat on the couch and watched the two other monsters _almost_ match the beat of the music.

"Aren't 'cha gonna join us?" Undyne asked, seeming irritated that you would dare sit on your own couch.

"I don't want to embarrass myself." You laugh, stopping when Undyne gives you a glare. "Er…"

"Pleeeeeaseeeeeee?" Papyrus begged, giving you puppy eyes somehow. You sigh and lay on the floor, giving in.

"That's the spirit! Push your passions into your arms! The faster you go the stronger you get!" Undyne cheered, doing crazy amounts of pushups. You were pretty sure that's not how it worked.

God did you hate exercise, but you did enjoy your work out session with the two monsters. You even managed to do a couple pushups yourself before faking the rest for their sake.


	6. Rainy Day

You woke up in your bed for the first time that week, and it was the most wonderful feeling. You normally weren't an early riser and usually needed some sort of motivation to get out of bed before noon, but you felt so well rested and awake, you actually didn't want to go back to bed for once. The workout last night must have really worn you out, making you ready for bed a lot sooner than you would have expected.

Undyne seemed happy enough to see Papyrus as energetic as he was, and even apologized for threatening you earlier. She explained how she tended to have an "Older Sister" mindset with Papyrus, and understood that she can be a bit extreme for his sake. She then punched the wall next to you and made you promise to look out for him.

After apologizing again for the new dent in the wall, she headed back to their apartment. She said something about how she had a hot date to watch some anime, catching you completely off guard. When she left, Papyrus flopped on the couch and started complaining how bad he was hurting from all the exercise, causing you to laugh. Papyrus was putting up a show of how much energy he still had, all so Undyne wouldn't be worried or angry with you.

Luckily, this meant that you had your own bed last night, the first night since the monsters walked into your life. You never had such a solid night of sleep before; you didn't wake up once throughout the night! You didn't dream, but you didn't feel like you were missing out on much with all of the wacky dreams you were having lately.

You stretched, feeling your shoulders and back pop in various places and earning a groan from you. Peaking out of the window, you noticed the sun was only just rising, a view you rarely see. Deciding to use your free time to the best you could, you started doing your usual morning routine. You showered, put on clothes, changed Samus's water (and informed her that you still remembered what she did to Sans), ate some breakfast… the basics that you've been missing lately. You tried to be as quiet as possible so you didn't wake anyone, feeling like it was rest they deserved. Of course you forgot Papyrus was crashing on your couch, so you had to be extra quiet in the kitchen when eating your cereal.

When you put the milk away you noticed that your ketchup was almost gone, probably just a few squirts left in the bottom of the bottle. A grocery run could use up the rest of the morning, you figure, and you'd probably be getting home when the brothers were waking up. You grabbed your phone and slipped on your shoes, exiting out of the door as quietly as possible.

There was a bit of a chill in the air, especially in the deep shadows of the tall buildings around you. The sky was brilliant red with clouds, and silence was all around due to the lack of people and cars, having an almost eerie sense of peace preparing for today. You smile, thinking that maybe you should get up earlier more often.

You walk down the street for a bit, turning and stepping into your usual alleyway before pausing. It looked darker than what you were used to, and Papyrus's damaged body flashed in your head. Sans did say it would be a good idea to use the long route when you weren't with them… but you wanted a quick run to the store. You considered your options for a moment before continuing down the alleyway. Quick and direct. Besides, dangerous people are only around at night, obviously.

You walk quickly, gripping your phone tightly. _Come on._ You think to yourself. _I've walked down this alleyway hundreds of times before today, nothing ever happened._ You reasoned, trying to get the hairs on the back of your neck to settle back down. You stepped into a puddle and shivered as it soaked through your shoe. _But something did happen._ You swallow and quicken up your pace.

You were practically jogging by the time you made it out of the alleyway, making you pause and laugh about how frightened you were. You felt foolish, but thank goodness no one else was there to call you out on it. Then again… You looked back at the shadows, feeling like maybe someone _was_ there. You didn't see anything, so you continued to the grocery shop.

You walked up to the doors, surprised that they were closed. You only ever shopped here during your usual awake times… you never saw the doors shut before. Your timing must have been just right because a store worker walked up to the entrance, rolled their eyes at you, and opened the doors.

"Thank you." You smiled at them. They grumbled and walked over to a register. You started your usual shopping, picking up a basket and wandering to some aisles. The entire store was empty minus the couple workers, and it unnerved you slightly you the way your steps echoed slightly around the store.

You put a few things of spaghetti in your basket, along with multiple ketchups. You grabbed a few different brands, not sure which kind Sans would like the most. All of them tasted the same to you, but hey, you never tried drinking ketchup alone before. You still didn't plan on it.

As you reached for a brand higher on the shelves you felt it again. Someone was watching you. You look over your shoulder, but still no one was there. Maybe shopping alone was a bad idea.

You head to the registers and quickly start putting your stuff on the belt. "Jeeze what's the rush?" The worker asked, not smiling. You tried giving them a big smile.

"Oh nothing, just realized I probably have hungry monsters waiting back home." You watched your items get scanned.

"Aw man, you one of those furries? I've never seen anyone as happy with these monsters as those guys." Before you could respond they gave you your total, and you paid with your card.

You stepped outside the store, startled to see that the sky was darker than when you entered. The clouds looked angry and dark overhead, and you could see it was sprinkling lightly already. You bring your bag close to your chest and start walking home, hoping you could be able to make it before the heavy rain. Halfway though the parking lot you felt as much as heard the thunder, and the rain steadily got stronger. You trudged on and were about to step into the alleyway, but you paused again. The rain was starting to get even harder, but you really didn't trust this alleyway in the rain anymore.

Someone was watching you. You felt it from the alleyway and you knew that someone was _there_ ; it couldn't be your imagination. _That settled it then,_ you thought as you turned and started taking the sidewalk around. The thunder boomed again, causing you to flinch.

You couldn't be more than a few yards from the alleyway entrance when you noticed your hair completely soaked through, along with your clothes. You grumbled unhappily and snuck under an umbrella by a coffee store. "Knew I should have taken the alleyway…" You sat in one of the chairs, watching the rain come down.

"You'd really risk getting mugged just to have a slightly shorter walk in the rain?" Sans appeared in the chair beside yours, causing you to scream and almost drop your grocery bag. "Oops, Heheh. Sorry, thought you got used to this by now." Sans chuckled as you straightened up and seemed relieved it was him.

"I'm not sure how one becomes used to others just appearing out of thin air, but I try my best." You smile, already less grumpy about the rain. "What are you doing up?" You ask, noticing deep circles under his eye sockets… if that's even how it was supposed to work. Did he even sleep?

"Papyrus woke up with the thunder, and got worried about you. He wanted me to make sure you stayed out of the alleyway."

"Did he say why?"

Sans looked at you. "No, but I'm fairly sure its obvious."

"I meant…" You started, but figured you weren't going anywhere with that topic any time soon. You looked at the rain for a bit longer until you suddenly realized. "Wait, you were the one watching me from the alleyway!" You point accusingly at Sans, who shrugged and tried to look innocent.

"Nothing wrong with looking at people." He smirked. You smile to yourself, feeling a little relieved you weren't going crazy.

The two of you sit there for a while before the rain lightened up, barely misting now. You stand and stretch, hearing more pops from your body. Sans flinched and looked away, looking a little blue on the cheeks. Did the sound make him sick? "Oops, sorry man." You say, finishing your stretch. You stand for a bit, looking around as you try to remember what is close by. "You've been to the beach yet?"

Sans raised an eyebrow. "You want to go to the beach? After a rainstorm?" He walked beside you and handed you an umbrella, one from your closet.

"Awesome, thanks." You adjust your bag so you can properly hold the umbrella. "There is a small cliff near the beach. I used to visit it and always throw rocks from it. It was always so pretty after it rained." You smile and start heading to the cliff in the mist, followed closely by Sans. You saw him looking at your wet clothing with a slightly worried expression.

"Shouldn't we head home? You humans tend to get sick from the rain, or so I've heard." Sans asked, walking close so he was also under the umbrella.

"Only humans? You look sick yourself."

"Monsters don't get sick… well, usually. But not from weather as easily as humans. I'm fine." He said, rubbing at his forehead with a hand. So convincing. He looked at you, again seeing how wet your clothing was and sighed. "Here, at least keep warm. I have a reputation of being lazy to keep up, and I cant do that if I need to take care of you." He took off his jacket and handed it to you, giving you a half-smirk.

You accept the blue puffy jacket and put it on, surprised at how well it fit you. He may have been shorter than you, but you figure he must have been wearing a size bigger than what he needed. You instantly felt warmer. "Ah… Thank you. You sure you are good without it?" Sans nodded, waving your worry off. He still had his white tank top on, but he looked entirely different without his standard outfit on.

The two of you walked for a bit until you reached the beach, and eventually came to the underside of the cliff you told Sans about. It looked different from what you remember, but there were plenty of rocks to sit on and more to throw. You find a set of good flat rocks to sit on and pat beside you for Sans to take his spot. He looked at how wet the rocks were, shrugged, and sat with his legs crossed. You held the umbrella against your shoulder so it could cover both of you, and put the grocery bag far enough behind you that you didn't have to worry about it.

The rain started picking up again, thankfully it wasn't that windy yet, so your umbrella was plenty enough protection. You looked at Sans and saw that he did indeed enjoy the view. The beach was on the inside of a massive lake; a hint of another town was on the other side, nearly impossible to see with the rain. The waves splashed around the two of you, never quite reaching the layer rocks you were sitting on but still giving you a show. The sound of rain crashing against your umbrella drowned out most of the sounds of the town behind you, leaving just you two and the water in your own world.

You wonder why you stopped coming to the places that brought you so much peace. You wondered why you now visit them when you are with Sans. That thought shocked you. You blink and look at your situation, seeing just the two of you completely alone, as usual. You've been dragging him around to places that made you happy, in order to make him happy. You weren't even sure if he was actually happy, or wearing his usual grin. Worry starts to eat at your thoughts, drowning out the peaceful moment as uneasiness itched under your skin. What if he was just humoring you? Allowing you to drag him around since you didn't have anyone else to drag around? What if-

His hand rested on top of yours against the rock, stopping all of your thoughts in place. "This… This is nice." Sans said softly. You looked over to him and saw him still looking out at the lake. He looked awed at the absolute vastness of all of the water. He didn't look as tired when he was being awed. You liked that look.

"Yeah." He looked at you and you quickly looked away, realizing you were probably staring. "Um, you want to throw some rocks?" You ask. He laughed.

"We probably wont be able to skip them too well with the waves, but sure." He allowed your hand to leave from under his ( _unfortunately- wait what_ ), and you adjusted your grip on the umbrella to grab the rocks. There was always a never-ending supply of perfect throwing rocks close to this sitting area, surprisingly. You would think all of them would have been thrown in after all of these years.

You hand one to Sans and make a small pile between the two of you, grabbing a nice rectangular one for yourself. You weigh it for a moment, move back your arm, and throw it with all your might. It flew through the air and made a massive splash, you actually got pretty good distance! You smile and look at Sans.

"Ha, I didn't think this is what you meant but…" He swung his arm and watched his rock crash through two small waves, making a decent splash. "This actually feels pretty good." You smile, happy to hear it.

.

You two throw rocks for who knows how long, making casual conversation about everything and nothing. The rain came down harder, causing you two to lean more into each other to keep dry. Sans eventually pulled up the hood of his jacket for you, "just to make sure you keep warm." The fur on the inside felt incredibly soft, and it certainly kept you warm enough. Half way through your pile you noticed San's rocks ended up looking a little blue when they were in the air, and you yelled at him for cheating.

"You can cheat in throwing rocks?" He asked, almost insulted you would accuse him of something so terrible.

"Yes! And you're cheating! Cheater cheater, ketchup eater!" You reach to take the rock out of his hand and he quickly holds it away from you.

"Its not cheating, it's called 'using your resources.'" He declared, waving the rock in your face. There was a perfectly accessible pile of rocks between the two of you, but he didn't deserve that rock in particular.

"That was my excuse for cheating in High School!" You frantically reached for the rock, causing Sans to lean back and laugh as he struggled to keep it out of your grasp. You leaned too far and slipped on the damp rock, crashing and causing Sans to fall down under you. Your umbrella skidded out of your hand and against the rocks, but you froze while looking down at Sans.

"If you wanted to jump my bones so bad, you could have just said something." His shit-eating grin made his way to his face, causing your face to redden immediately. You didn't know what to say. "I'm personally in _skull_ ted you didn't earlier." You blinked. A pun. A fucking pun.

"You are the worst!" You laughed loudly and pushed off of him to sit up again. You ran a hand through your wet hair, fixing your hood, and reached for the umbrella. Sans sat up as well, smile still plastered to his face. Your eyes jump to the hand wrapped around the rock and you leap for it. "HA!" You cheer valiantly as you succeeded in getting the rock. You move your hand back to throw it, but the rock suddenly became very heavy and made you fall over and loose your umbrella again. You look up to see the rock holding a solid blue aura as it trapped your hand under it. "SANS."

Sans calmly laid down next to you, closing his hands in one another on his lap, looking up in the sky. "You know, its times like these that just really make you appreciate gravity."

"Oh my god Sans."

"I mean, if you think about it, gravity is one of the weakest forces of the universe. Literally everything has its own gravity, but it only really counts for things of a lot of mass."

" _Sans_."

"How lucky are we that we grew up on earth? If our planet was even the slightest bit different in mass, we would have been completely different beings." He continued his scientific speech as if he couldn't hear you struggling to lift your hand from under the blue rock.

"Sans oh my god, I'm wet and can't get my umbrella." You tried to reason with him, maybe convince him to lift the rock out of your hand. He nodded, seeming to accept your defeat, and reached for your umbrella. He laid onto his side and held the umbrella to at least protect both of your upper bodies from the rain.

"So anyway-"

"SANS."

"There are all these habitable planets I was reading about that were different sizes, right? And then some punk on the internet thinks that means there would be humans in other galaxies, can you believe that? Monsters I can see, but humans? Nah." You listened to his rant, caring less about the impossible-to-move rock and more about his interest in science and space. He got closer. "Humans are just so… fragile." He whispered, eyes looking into yours. It sent chills down your spine.

The weight from the rock vanished, shocking you. "Anyway, where were we?" He sat up, grabbing a new rock and chucking it, not using his magic. You lay there for a couple seconds, before realizing the rain was still coming. You sit up and sit close to him and under the umbrella, unsure what that rant was really about.

"You really like science, don't you?" You ask, looking at the rock you stole from Sans. It was almost perfectly round.

"Yeah, I used to work with the royal scientist. Bro was pretty-AH!" His eye flashed orange and he smacked a hand over it, dropping the umbrella and hunching over.

"Sans?" You ask, adjusting your legs so you sat more angled in front of him.

"I'm… I'm good. Just a headache…" He shook slightly, just enough that you saw it. You stood up.

"Come on, we should get you home. You need sleep-"

"NO." Sans yelled, eyes looking up at you and widening out of fear. He blinks, realizes what he did, and quickly looked away. "I-I just need some Advil… I'm fine." You look at him, unconvinced.

"Sans." You say quietly but firmly. He looks up at you. "Lets get you home." You hold out a hand for him, which he slowly accepts. His eye keeps flickering orange, reminding you of an annoying eye twitch you had forever ago, only this kind of twitch seemed to make him flinch when it was too big. You grab your grocery bag once he is standing stably, and lead him back towards the beach.

You help him across the rocks, watching him carefully so he didn't slip. He did once, but you caught him as he mumbled some sort of thanks. When you finally got onto the beach he was balanced, but you couldn't tell if it was just the rain on his skull or if he was sweating as well. "What brought this-"

" _Shut up_." He whispered to himself, closing his eyes and looking pained. You were shocked, snapping your jaw shut. He opened his eyes and saw your expression. "Oh, fuck, sorry. Not you." He swallowed. Man, his circles under his eyes looked _really_ dark. How have you not noticed them until today?

"I… Uh… You can teleport home and get some Advil." You suggested. He shook his head and immediately regretted doing so.

"I don't have the energy to bring you with…"

"I told _you_ to go, don't worry, I'll be close behind you." You said, patting his arm gently. He looked like he didn't want to, but a flare in his eye made the choice for him. "Aghh… Fine. Don't get into any trouble without me." He tried to give you a smile, but it was shaky and extremely forced. You nodded anyway, and he vanished when you blinked.

The air felt empty when he was gone. Even in the rain, apparently, you realized. You left your umbrella by the rocks. You considered going back and getting it, but you needed to get back to your place as soon as possible. Something was seriously wrong with Sans, and you needed to help him. That Umbrella was only five dollars anyway.

You started heading back to your usual route to get back home, walking much faster than normal. You would be running, but with your shoes and these puddles, you knew that would be bad news. You walk up to the alleyway and continue forward, you don't even hesitate. Nothing ever happened to you before, Sans was the one watching you earlier, and you really didn't want to waste the time walking the long route.

You stick your hands in San's jacket pockets, thankful for the warmth. You were soaked to the bone (ha, you had to tell that one to Sans later), and shivering slightly. You two probably shouldn't have stayed out so long in the rain, as much fun as that date was. You trip. Not date. There, better.

You continue walking, feeling like the alleyway got longer since you last took it, and noticed someone leaning against the wall ahead of you. You quietly move to the side, keeping your head tucked in the neck of the jacket as you walked by. You pass them, and you let out a breath you didn't know you were holding.

You felt choked as you were yanked back by the hood of San's jacket. "Hmph. I know _you_." A familiar voice growled, jerking down the hood to look at you better. You look at the man, trying to place him in your memory. You didn't remember anyone with a large bandage over their nose- _Ohno_.

"Lookie here boys! Found the twerp that ruined my last meal!" He shouted, tugging at your hoodie to drag you over some, making you drop your grocery bag but allowing you to see three other people wearing HP patches.

"Nonono look okay, my friend really needs my help, and I need to-" You started struggling in the jacket, trying to slip out. Leader Prick's hand grabbed your arm, twisting it.

"Oh! Your friend! Why of course! Our mistake, we'll let you get right on out then!" You could almost see the sarcasm hang in the air. He roughly shoved you, making you fall forward and land in a muddy puddle. "That friend of your was supposed to be my next meal! Make me stronger! But no, you couldn't wait an extra hour to rescue your friend, could you?" He spat. You looked at the others, recognizing one of them as the (slightly bandaged up) old man that Sans slammed against the walls on the night that Papyrus…

"Meal? Stronger?" You ask, trying to get up and stall for time. A hand strikes your face and sends you back into the puddle.

"What? You didn't know? Killing them makes us stronger. Didn't they tell you that?" You hold your face and twist to look up Leader Prick. His jacket was stained gray from dust. He stepped forward, and pressed a boot against your back. "But you stopped my latest kill, didn't you?" He leaned down, laughing as you tried to struggle and fight him off.

" _ **Get away from the** **m**."_ You stop when you hear Sans down the alleyway. Leader Prick laughed, grinding his heel into your back. You screamed.

"Or what? Little monster? You'll do wha-" Pink slippers suddenly appeared next to your head and you felt the weight being lifted from your back. You look up and see Sans holding a hand up, blue shining harshly from his eye. He swings his arm and you look in time to see Leader Prick crash into another man, before they both were slammed into a wall, then thrown at the others. You scramble back getting your feet under you. Your face still burned, but you were too busy watching Sans using his magic to bother rubbing at it.

One wall, the other wall, slammed together, tossed up, dropped. Sans was shaking and breathing hard, steam coming out of his jaw in puffs. "Sans?" You ask quietly. He turns to you slowly, ignoring the HP pricks as they cursed at each other and were slowly getting up. San's blue eye looked you over, looking pained at seeing you in such a state. Then his eye focused on the red mark on your face. The eye flared orange, and energy cracked though the air as he turned his attention back to the men. Massive floating goat skulls appeared on both sides of Sans, humming with energy. They opened their mouths, and blinding beams of light fired at the men.

You screamed. You didn't know what else to do as your friend- this incredibly powerful monster- attacked the Human Pride group without restraints. Your screams were drowned out by theirs as they tried their best to run and dodge the attacks, not getting very good results on either. Another pair of giant goat skulls appeared and started chasing them, you felt your stomach drop as the men screamed in agony.

"Sans! They had enough!" You jump up and run up to Sans, trying to stop the slaughter. He glanced at you with his blue-orange flickering eye, looking straight at your soul. "Yes, they are terrible people and deserve this, but not from you! You don't need to kill them!" You panicked, trying to keep loud enough to be heard over the rays of light. His eyes widened as he looked at you, staying solid blue for a second. He was shaking.

He fell to his knees and looked down, the goat skulls vanishing as fast as they appeared. You heard Leader Prick still screaming as the others scrambled to pick him up and run away, but you focused on Sans. He was shaking really bad. You could see that his eye was closed, but the light under it was still flickering uncontrollably.

"Sans, its okay, I'm okay." You lean down and reach out to rest a hand on his shoulder, but he suddenly was a couple inches further than you thought he was. You reach slightly further, and he vanished. You panic, looking around for him. He was against the wall with his knees to his chest, hands over his earholes. He was muttering something, but you couldn't make it out.

"…Sans?" You step closer, trying to calm him down. You felt the energy building in the air and your hair stood on end. You stepped closer until you were within reach, and that's when you heard it. _Whispering_. You could hear more than his voice, and they were whispering in some language you couldn't recognize. Sans was crying, pressing harder at his skull like he could squeeze the voices out if he pressed hard enough. You started to kneel down and felt yourself shoved away by magic.

"NO. KEEP AWAY FROM ME." Sans screamed, voice strained and cracking as he looked at you horrified. You could see cracks running up his skull from his nasal bone and others splitting his mandible. "RUN. GET AWAY!" He waved his hand and you felt pushed again, sliding back and falling over. You scramble up.

"Sans, let me help! What's going on?" You stood where you did, not want to panic him any more.

"JUST GET-AAGGHHH!" He screamed, grabbing at his head as his eye flared again. He looked up and swung his hand at you, throwing you down the alley a good distance before you stumbled over the concrete and came to a stop. You paid no attention to the new bleeding scratches on your legs as you turned around. Sans screamed again, falling forward and slamming a glowing fist into the ground. Cracks spider webbed under his fist, shaking the ground under you slightly.

You watched in horror as Sans screamed, the sound of bones breaking and popping echoing down the alleyway. His hands grew impossibly long as he grabbed at his head, which also started growing longer. His screams became inhuman, double toning and turning into growls as well as horrific screams. You flinched every time his spine popped, sharpening and expanding, bursting out of his tank top. You didn't see when he grew his tail, or when his legs extended into digitigrade, but you suddenly noticed those as he climbed on his hands, breathing hard. He stood up on his new legs and roared, sending a light beam into the brick wall. You gasp and scramble to get up, foot splashing in a puddle.

Sans looked at you.

You had a feeling you were going to have a bad time.


	7. Finding Day

You always heard about how if a wild animal started running at you, you were supposed to drop and pretend to be dead, and eventually the animal would leave you alone. While that was tempting in theory and made some logical sense to some, what were the chances of anyone _actually_ following that advice when looking at something like _this_?

Sans(…?) stood hunched over, huffing and hissing in-between breaths, watching you with a single orange eye. His skull looked like the floating goat skull attacks he used, if not slightly sharper around his teeth and jaw, and the rest of him had transformed to better suit the new skull. For the first time since you met him, he looked like a monster. Sharp claws scratched at the ground, a long tail smacked into a dumpster and dented it, steam puffed from its – _his_ \- breath. He stepped forward.

The answer to that question was: _No one_.

You turn and run fast as you can, screaming as you hear and feel the ground get clawed at behind you. You don't look. You don't dare glance at the monster – _Sans_ \- as it chased you down the alleyway. The exit was so _close_ you just needed to go a little-

Sans suddenly jumped to the corner of the alleyway entrance, digging his claws into the bricks and looking down at you. The orange in his eye grew brighter as the energy around his head hummed, and you leapt. You knocked the air out of your own chest jumping out of the way, landing hard on the sidewalk and scraping your hands. You scramble up and keep running, trying not to listen to the ray attack burn into the spot that you were standing a second ago.

You go bursting through your door, thanking whatever god that was up there that the door wasn't locked, slamming it shut and holding your entire body against it. You flick the lock down just in time for the entire door to lurch forward, something slammed against it. You screamed, pressing more of your body into the door as if it would be life or death.

"Human? What's going on?" Papyrus was in the hallway, plate of spaghetti in his hands. You open your mouth to answer him, screaming when the door bounced again.

"It's Sans- he just- I cant-" You start, trying to explain the situation but unable to find any words other than screams.

"What do you mean, _it's_ _Sans_?" Papyrus put down his spaghetti and went to the window, peaking out of the curtain.

"NO DON'T-" You yell too late. The window exploded with glass flying everywhere, a shard cutting your cheek before you manage to protect your face. Sans crashed through the glass, landing on his side in the living room and throwing Papyrus back into the fridge. Sans shook his head, stood up, and looked at you. You froze.

His tail whipped around, smacking into the TV and bending it over itself before crashing to the ground. You pressed yourself against the door and closed your eyes as Sans stepped closer, his hungry orange eye lighting up the dark room eerily. You could hear the hisses of his breath, pops and cracks of his bones simply moving, and the sound of your flooring straining under his weight. You felt his breath in your face.

Your eyes snapped open, and he was just _there_. His head alone was almost as big as your torso; you didn't dare look to see how big the rest of him was. He looked at you with a tilted head, jaw cracking open and a humming sound filled the air. You didn't know when you started crying.

"Sans please please this is just a nightmare pleaseplease," you start repeating, unable to think or do anything else as you were trapped under the glaring orange eye. "Pleaseplease Sans wakeup this is a nightmare please wake up just wake up please." Tears were freely moving now as you pressed harder into the door, as if you could just phase through to safety. Your words were running all together and you knew no one was actually listening to your cries. "Sans wakeup please _donthurtme_ please please." You close your eyes and look away to help flatten you against the door. The humming stopped.

You shakily swallow between your sobs, still repeating the same things over and over and over like it were your lifeline. You heard Sans's breathing change. You crack open a watery eye and see Sans looking at you a little further away, head tilting to the other side. His eye was blue. He stepped forward and you jumped, pressing harder against the door and practically shouting your chant as you looked away crying. He whined, and you heard sounds of bones grinding on each other for a moment.

More glass shattered, and the sound knocked the air out of your lungs. You open your eyes to the destroyed room, not seeing Sans anywhere. You slid down the door, bringing your knees to your chest and screamed between sobs, all of your nerves crashing down around you and sending you spiraling in your own tears. You were never one for crying, you always hated it, but you couldn't stop yourself. You bawled like a child afraid of monsters in their closet, begging to anyone to help or to comfort you.

But no one came.

.

You stay there crying until your eyes go dry and your voice falls silent, limbs slowly regaining feeling. You blankly look over your destroyed apartment, seeing glass shattered around the room and the floorboards completely scratched up, the mess of your TV just adding to the damage. Your thoughts stayed quiet.

You get up, feeling your limbs complain and strain against the effort, but you didn't react to it. You walked over to the kitchen, seeing Papyrus leaning unconscious against the fridge, which had a massive dent in it. You knelt beside him and touched his arm, slowly bringing him to.

"H… Human?" His eyes opened a peak, before snapping open. "What happened? You are very hurt! Where's Sans?" He quickly asked as he jumped up, looking around. You wanted to answer him, you really did, but your throat hurt and you didn't want to open your mouth. He looked at your expressionless face.

"Come, Human, let me take care of those cuts." He helped you up and lifted you onto the counter before going to the bathroom to grab your first aid kit. He came back and wet a cloth, slowly cleaning out all of your scrapes and cuts on your legs and face and hands, and oh how it _hurt_ , but you didn't react. He looked up at you, worried when you didn't even flinch. "Are there any serious injuries? Should I take you to the hospital?"

 _No_ , you wanted to say to him, or at least shake your head, but you just stared at your hands in silence. "Okay… just let me know if you need something." He said and continued the first aid. You wanted to laugh and joke about how you were just doing the same for him just a few days ago, but you didn't. As Papyrus worked on your legs, you carefully took off Sans's jacket and looked at it. If you had any tears left, you would have cried at how terrible it looked. There were scratches and cuts everywhere on it, the stuffing in-between the layers threatening to spill out, stained brown from mud. Papyrus looked at the jacket sadly, not knowing how to comment.

.

Papyrus did his best to clean up your wounds and dress them properly, your hands and legs looking like they were practically made out of bandages by the time he was done. He tried striking a conversation with you every so often while he was doing so, but quickly became quiet when you didn't give him any responses. When he finally finished, he picked you up and went to your room, carefully placing you in your bed.

"Human, I'll be trying to clean your apartment up… Just let me know if you need me. Do try to rest." Papyrus said, waiting for a response. You stared at the wall, wishing to be able to respond. You didn't. He nodded to himself, exiting your room and quietly shutting the door behind him.

You felt so heavy, and so so tired… You couldn't close your eyes though. Every time you blinked you could see orange. You eventually settle with keeping your eyes _almost_ closed, and you lay for a long time like that. After so long you suddenly see Sans chasing after you, and you wake up screaming.

"Human?" Papyrus burst through the door. He went to beside you and started patting your head to calm you down. "Human, its okay, you are okay." You heard the familiar line and felt your heart tug. You started shaking and brought the blanket close to your face, breathing hard. "I'm here, its okay. Sans will be fine, I'm sure about it." You wanted to ask him how he was so sure, maybe yell at him for trying to comfort you, anything. But you didn't.

He started running his hand through your hair, and you felt peace settle as the feeling washed away your terror. Papyrus laid on the other side of the bed, getting comfortable but making sure to keep distance from you, continuing to rub your head. You closed your eyes, and Sans was there. Not the monster, but your friend. You heard yourself sigh, and you fell asleep.

.

You wake up to the sound of Undyne's voice coming from the other room. "What the _hell_ happened?" You listened to her footsteps stomp around as Papyrus whispered too fast and tried stopping her. The door to your room slammed open, you didn't jump. "What did you do, you filthy human? What is going on?" She shouted at you, but stopped when you didn't even look at her. "Well? You gonna answer me?" She yelled more, walking into the room. You blinked, looking at the wall.

"The human is not feeling well, I think it would be best if they-" Papyrus tried to reason with her, but she marched closer and yanked at your hair.

"WHERE IS HE?" A blue spear appeared in her hands, pointing at your throat as she glared into you. You didn't react. The anger drained out of her face as she looked at you. "I… I don't understand." The spear vanished and she let go of your hair. You fell back into the pillow. Your head hurt.

"I told Sans to keep them out of the alleyway, so he went and was gone a really long time, but then he came back alone to grab something, or so he said, before leaving again." Papyrus started, taking a breath. "Then next thing I know, there is a giant… thing outside of the window, and I was thrown into the fridge. I wake up, and it was only us and a mess." He explained, not clearing up anything for Undyne. She sat on the ground and looked down, not knowing how to respond.

They started talking more, but you were too tired to bother listening. You fell asleep again.

.

You don't know how long you slept, but you know you cant any more. Your dreams repeat over and over, dreams of Sans turning into that _thing_. You don't scream now, your voice doesn't allow you anymore, you just simply wake up. You were still tired, but you got up anyway. You left your room and didn't see Papyrus anywhere, but you did see Sans's jacket laying on the couch. It was a lot cleaner than before, but the rips and tears were still on it.

You couldn't see anything else to do so you grabbed your sewing kit and sat on the couch. You used this kit maybe twice in your life, only for minor buttons of dress shirts, but you started to stitch up the cuts. You didn't know any fancy names for stitches or do anything special; you simply fed the needle through the clothing until it looked half decent. It was still dark out, but your TV was gone so you didn't know the time. A gust of wind brushed the back of your neck, unobstructed by your window, and causing your skin to bump. You paid it no mind and continued stitching, trying to keep your mind focused on something.

It wasn't the most amazing stich job in the world, but if you were more than a foot away you could barley make out the uneven blue stitches. "Human?" You look up to see Papyrus in the hallway, rubbing his eyes. "How long have you been up?" He walked over and sat on the couch as well. Your eyes drifted to the stitched jacket. "Ah… A while then." You nod ever so slightly, shocking him.

"How are you feeling? You've been asleep for a long time…" You didn't know how you felt. You slowly brought your hands to your arms, looking at the ground. "There, there, its okay. Everything works out in the end, you'll see." Papyrus's hand found the top of your head, rubbing it again. You closed your eyes and leaned into Papyrus. "Oh, okay."

He leaned back on the couch and you leaned with him, allowing him to wrap his other arm around you. You felt so safe with this lanky skeleton surrounding you, you fell asleep once more.

.

You woke up alone and in your bed again, blanket tucked around you carefully like you were a child. You swallowed and felt your throat scrape against itself, damaged and dry. Slowly sitting up, you noticed a tall glass of water sitting on the nightstand. You grabbed it, intent on downing it but coughed on the first drink, throat shocked at the sudden liquid. You force back your coughs and drink slower, finishing off the entire glass.

Everything felt fuzzy, even your thoughts. You felt sick, you realized with disgust. Getting sick like this when Sans was… Your throat tightened thinking about Sans. _Was he okay? Is he just running around and causing havoc around the town? Was he even still Sans?_ Your nails dig into your hands at the last thought, getting angry with yourself. You stand up and walk out of the room.

You walk into the bathroom and grab some Dayquil, taking more than what was recommended and coughing after it. "Human? Are you awake?" Papyrus asked from the living room. Oh how you wanted to say something, anything, but you kept your mouth shut. You looked in the mirror and startled yourself. _That's… me?_ You thought, bringing a hand to your face. You had dark circles under your eyes, bruises and Band-Aids practically everywhere else. Your hair was wild and dirty, begging for a shower, but just the thought made your skin hurt.

You turn away from the mirror, unable to look any longer, and made your way into the living room. "Human! Good to see that you are up! How are you?" Papyrus asked, hands knotting into each other. You hated him seeing this worried and you tried giving him an 'A-Okay Smile.' You felt the corners of your mouth rise ever so slightly. That seemed to be enough for him. He scooted over on the couch to make room for you and you sat down, noticing that he was holding his phone. You look at it and back at him, waiting for an explanation.

"I called the others to tell them about Sans. I wasn't able to tell them much, but they have been looking for him for a while." Papyrus said, continuing to look at the phone. How long has he been here just staring at it? You look out of the window (well, hole) and see that the light was a bit lower in the sky, from the amount of cars outside you assume it was afternoon. You have no idea how long you were asleep.

All this time Papyrus was trying to comfort you, when it was _his_ brother that was this thing. You felt selfish. You wanted to try and comfort him, to use the line "Everything will be fine," but you only leaned against him. His arm wrapped around and patted your arm, accepting the comfort lean. You both sit like that for a long while, sun lowering and rain picking up again outside after not too long.

The phone vibrates, causing Papyrus to jump. He flips it open and you see a text.

[BEACH.]

Before you realize what you were doing, you were putting your shoes on and grabbing on Sans's jacket. "Human! Wait let me-" You close the door behind you and start running in the rain towards the beach. You hear Papyrus shout after you, but you don't bother to listen.

The rain felt good, washing the mud out of your hair and dampening your bandages to not be as stiff. The running, however, hurt more than you could believe, but you didn't slow down. You ran the long way around the buildings, obviously, your gut hurt thinking about what the next terrible thing that could happen in the alleyway. You swallowed and continued running, ignoring the urges to slow down or even to avoid puddles.

The beach showed up soon enough, and you saw a short yellow dinosaur-like monster in a lab coat standing under an umbrella illuminated by a lamppost. She was looking at her phone nervously, occasionally looking around for someone. She spotted you and jumped, waiting for you to walk over. You held out Sans's jacket and pointed to it, awaiting for her to show where he went.

"Oh, you're the human Papyrus told me-" You rapidly tapped the jacket, unable to yell at her to tell you were Sans was. "-Right. I… I saw something running over there," she pointed towards the cliff, "but I'm not sure if it was really him, a-and I was waiting for-" A light flashed in the air and you hear an explosion from over there, and start running for the cliff. You heard her voice pitch up slightly. "H-hey! Don't go over there alone! Wait for someone to-" You ignored her.

You ran in the wet sand, feeling the back of your legs get sand stuck to them and become itchy. You didn't care. The cliff was just up ahead, and you heard something scraping the rocks. Your breath got caught in your throat and you wanted to call out to Sans, but no noise escaped your mouth. You slowed and walked further down, meeting where the rocks and sand met, and you saw him out of the shadows.

He was scratching at the massive rocks with his claws, leaving huge scrapes in them like they were wood. He managed to get a grip around a large rock, and he swung it around, launching the rock into the air above the lake. You heard humming from his head, and a ray of light from his mouth illuminated the area, exploding the rock into hundreds of bits that splashed into the water. He screeched at the splashes, like he was yelling out of frustration. You swallowed and stepped onto the rocks, stumbling in the darkness.

Sans's head snapped to you, orange-blue flickering eye piecing into your eyes. You opened your mouth to say something, but you still couldn't force any words out. You heard footsteps in the sand behind you.

"Brother?" Papyrus's voice asked carefully, causing Sans to hiss and coil into himself. His eye was lingering on blue, but it flared orange and he shook his head. "Brother, its me, Papyrus. Everything will be-" Sans screeched at the two of you and leapt, eye shining orange.

You felt yourself pulled back into the sand and massive bones exploded up from the ground around you, caging you and Papyrus in. Sans's jaw came crushing down on a few of them, trying to bite through them. "Brother please!" Papyrus lifted a hand and more bones appeared in front of you, protecting you from Sans's claws. "Snap out of it! I know you are in there!"

Sans's attacks slowed and his eye turned blue, gripping the bones in his mouth as he looked at you. The rain was pouring hard, bouncing off of his skull and building at the corners of his eye sockets. You reached out a shaky hand. He looked at the hand through the bones and immediately let go, scrambling backwards and looking like he was horrified. You leapt up and reached through the bones, trying to touch him, but he only screeched and ran away, scrambling over the cliff and to who knows where. _Sans_.

You turned to yell at Papyrus for protecting you, you _had this_ , but you saw him looking distressed. He was shaking, hand still outstretched to summon his bone attacks, looking where Sans ran off. "Brother…"

The yellow dinosaur monster from before walked up to you two, hands tying themselves into knots. "I've… never s-seen anything like this before. Monsters can loose control of their powers, sure, but this…" She looked down, unable to meet your eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm not any help here."

"Oh Alphy, you found him, that's more than what I could do." Papyrus started to say something to comfort her, but you just started walking back home. You were starting to get cold from the rain, and you didn't have the patience to stand in silence any more.

.

You slammed the door behind you and flicked the light switch, but no light came on. You huff and kick the couch out of frustration, and immediately fall to the ground holding your foot. You sat there for a while, allowing your anger to dissipate as a wave of exhaustion washed over you. You don't bother moving to anywhere; you just laid on the floor and curl up around Sans's Jacket, unbothered by the sounds of the town leaking through your broken window.

For some reason, you started thinking up puns.


	8. Saving Day

You wake up in your bed, only this time you weren't alone. You felt ribs pressed against your back and long boney arms wrapped around you awkwardly. Turning your head, you saw Papyrus sleeping beside you, hugging you like a child would a stuffed animal. You opened your mouth and tried to say his name, but your voice only cracked. You settle for tapping his arm.

"Hmmm?" Papyrus opened an eye, looking at you. He blinked slowly, before jumping and quickly untangling himself from you. "Human! My apologies! I saw you sleeping on the floor and so I brought you in here!" You nod and raised an eyebrow as if to ask _'and how did you end up here?'_

"And… When I tried going to sleep I had a… bad dream." He rubbed his arm. You felt sorry for the poor skeleton. Understanding, you wrapped your arms around him in a hug. He hugged back, his chin resting on top of your head. "It was pretty scary." You nodded, knowing what he meant. You let go and sit in his arms a bit longer until he finally released you a few moments later.

"Anyway, how are you feeling?" He asked, clearly trying to change subjects. You allow the change and give him a thumbs-up, and you weren't entirely lying. Your throat still felt like hell, but your body didn't hurt as bad and you actually felt well rested. You still had the overhanging feeling of… something. You couldn't describe it, but every time you thought of Sans- Oh, there it was.

Papyrus saw you flinch and gave a concerned look. "Hey, it's going to be… We'll find him again! Don't worry!" He forced a smile for you, but you could see unease was eating at him too. You nod and he seemed relieved that you actually seem to be responding today. You get up from the bed and stretch, no pops to be heard, and start digging around your drawers for some clean clothes. The ones you were in felt absolutely gross, you just realize. Actually, you just feel gross in general. A shower could do you good. You grab your choice of clothing and head to the bathroom, ready to have the best shower you ever had.

.

An hour later you were standing in your destroyed living room with fresh clothes and bandages. ' _Whoa… this place is wrecked.'_ You think to yourself while looking at all of the scratches on the ground, cracks and dents in the walls, and broken window. You weren't sure if your insurance covers out-of-control monster damages… At least, you know you didn't sign up for it thinking this would happen to you.

"Human, you are feeling well, correct?" Papyrus asked from behind you, looking like he was putting on his scarf properly. You nodded. "Then I will help the others search for my brother. I think it wise if you stay here while-" You shake your head no and turn to him, crossing your arms. "Human, please, I know you are dear friends with Sans, but… You are a human, and I do not think any human has any chance against my brother while he is in this state…"

His hands started picking at each other and he shifted his weight on his feet. He was worried about you. If you had your voice you would have gone "Awww…" But instead you give him a small off-center smile.

"Please, Human, just stay here?" He looked at you with eyes of concern, waiting for an answer. You take a breath and nod, instantly calming his worry. "Thank you! I promise to try my best to find Sans, and I'll text you if I find him!" He said loudly, nodding back to you and quickly leaving your apartment.

It was quiet.

That's the first thing you notice when Papyrus left. You could still hear the noises of the town through your broken window, but other than that, dead silent. This throws you off; you never really had noise in your apartment to begin with. You usually watched TV, sat with your computer, or laid with your phone when you were actually here, never having overlapping sounds or even having sound in the first place. But this silence was different; it was empty.

You shook yourself out of the shock of silence and laid on the couch, not knowing what to do. You rub your forehead and tried to figure out what you did before Sans and Papyrus showed up in your life, but it just seemed… fuzzy. You were so quick to replace your old life you already forgot even your habits. You grumble and pull out our phone to look at the local news.

News keeps you occupied for about an hour, but you catch up soon enough and you find yourself questioning what to do. You take Samus out of her cage and let her climb you for a bit, but she eventually falls asleep on your lap and you grow bored once more. You put her back and change her water out, clean the dishes, do the laundry, and basically make the entire apartment look great other than the permanent destruction of your living room.

And yet, you find yourself bored.

You can't even talk to yourself to relieve any of this silence! You really hated breaking promises, but you cant stand just waiting around any longer.

 _'Sorry Papyrus_ ,' you think, ' _but I need to help_.' You tied the arms of Sans's jacket around your waist and slipped on your shoes. You checked your phone for any last news reports before heading out of the door.

.

Where you were going, you had no idea. You just picked a direction and started walking, hoping that it wouldn't be the direction of where Papyrus was looking. It would be pretty awkward if he caught you out of your apartment, then again you could always say that you just needed some fresh air… not that you wouldn't have gotten it from your broken window. Agh, maybe you should have thought up more backup plans.

You zone out while thinking up possible stories that you could need, snapping back into reality just in time to realize you were in the downtown shopping area, the place littered even heavier with Halloween decorations than before. You looked in the windows and saw "FINAL SALE!" or "HALF OFF ENTIRE STORE!" stickers on almost all of the shops. It must be the day after Halloween… or even more, you realize. Your heart dropped slightly at the thought. You loved Halloween, and now the skeleton brothers wouldn't be able to celebrate for another year…

Your sad thoughts get cut off when you notice Undyne walking on the other side of the street, looking down alleyways. You quickly duck out of sight behind a couple strangers when she turns towards you, thinking it would be best if you weren't seen by her. Far as you know, Papyrus warned his friends to keep an eye out for you as much as Sans.

Undyne continued on her way and you apologized to the couple for startling them before continuing to walk through downtown. The massive clock in the middle square said 5:14 on it, and you were surprised you made it this far in the day before you got bored enough to come out of your apartment. It was almost impressive. You kept walking while not knowing where you were going, until you saw the park come into view. Then it hit you.

You found Sans at the last date- err… hangout area you two went to. He even was throwing stones. What if he really still is in there, just trying to escape whatever that monster is? You walk faster to the park, stepping off of the path and into the trees. Your hands hurt when you move branches out of the way, still bandaged up from when you jumped out of the way of Sans's light ray. You try not to focus on it and break through the clearing.

In the clearing was… nothing, other than the massive willow tree. You felt disappointment weigh your shoulders down. Apparently you didn't figure Sans's condition out. You continue to the willow tree anyway, still happy that it was around, even if it didn't help you out at the moment.

You walk up to the tree and put your hand to the bark, remembering the texture despite your bandages in the way. You close your eyes and keep your hand to the tree, taking a deep breath of its scent. It seemed a lot stronger than usual, you notice. Deciding to continue your search, you turn to walk away and start looking again. Just as your hand was leaving the trunk you felt something odd brush against your fingertips.

You stop and look closer at the bark, seeing a perfect thin slash across it. You felt your eyebrows rise slightly, and you started looking closer at the rest of the bark. That cut was the only one on this side, but you took a few steps to the right and noticed a few more. You walked around the tree and sharply inhaled. The entire side was scratched up, much like how a cat would scratch up a wooden pole. You follow the cuts up the tree and see them stop as the branches appeared.

"S-" You tried speaking, your voice cracked. You squinted your eyes and tried looking past the thick branches and leaves, looking for any hints of Sans. A flash of orange peaked through the darkness, and heard a few branches straining and cracking as something moved on them.

You felt the ground shake as something heavy landed behind you. You swallow and turn around, face-to-skull of an orange-eyed Sans. You take a quick step backwards, resisting every urge to run. "S-" You cough and try again. "S-San-s." Holy _shit_ speaking hurt.

Sans paused a moment and tilted his head, before releasing a laugh-like hiss, stepping forward. His orange eye looked down at you hungrily. This wasn't going to plan… _Wait, what was the plan again_?

You give a small laugh as you take another step backwards. "I-I have to- _cough_ \- to say, I'm _bone tired_ f-from looking for you." You manage to shakily pun. Sans's eye flickered blue. You gained confidence and tried again. "You are a very _de-mandible_ s-skeleton, you know."

His eye flickered and you could see his expression change, before turning back to orange and taking another step closer to you. It was working! Well… almost. You take another step back and bump into the willow, slight panic tickling at your chest. "I just couldn't _rest in peace_ without you around. Even P-Papyrus refused to _wrist_ with you out." You were speed-firing puns now; every one seemed to buy you half a second with blue eyed Sans. "E-even if I had to _bust a gut_ , I still found you. I cant even be _ankle_ with you." These puns would probably be better if you spread them out, and gave more time to process them, but time was one thing you didn't have at the moment.

Sans was close now, looking at you with his flickering eye, looking all sorts of conflicted. His eye flared orange and you heard a humming. "I _knee-ded_ to find you, and the fact that I was able to is _Sans-tastic._ " You leap and wrap your arms around Sans's head, hugging his face tightly. Partially to try and escape the ray attack, party because you didn't know what else to do. The humming stopped and he started quickly backing up, swinging his head around and trying to throw you off. You felt the sharp points of his mandible cutting into your arms, and you felt a warm wetness make your sleeves damp.

You kept hugging him, face pressed to his forehead and trying to suppress your tears. "Ah….E-everyone is looking for you, you _bonehead_. Why don't you just come home?" You grit your teeth as Sans flailed extra hard, your arms slipping and getting dug into by the sharp points.

You grip harder, refusing to be thrown off. "I'm g-going off of _mammary_ here, but I don't think I've eaten anything in days. Papyrus didn't make any spaghetti, but I suppose I should've _sauced_ that c-coming... Out of everyone, he's _pasta-bly_ taking this the hardest."

He suddenly stopped. He stood still, but you could feel his bones quivering from under you. You look at his eye socket, seeing an orange-tinted blue eye looking at you, shaking. You sniff, and try one last pun.

"We're _bonely_ without you, Sans."

He cries. His screams sound inhuman and probably are heard by everyone in town, but you continue to hold on and finally release the tears you were holding back. He collapses on the ground and cries, massive monster tears soaking through your shirt. You keep his skull in your embrace, making sure he wouldn't be able to get away.

His cries become screams and he flinches, the sound of bones popping vibrating through his skull. He jerks back and brings his claws forward, almost grabbing you, but instead digging into the ground. He gives a growl that turns into a yell, jerking again and you felt him shift backwards. You close your teary eyes and hold on, hoping and praying that this was working.

Sans's voice doubled over itself, one growling and the other groaning as another violent jerk was sent through him. His skull felt smaller, and the sharp points that were digging into your arms seemed to vanish. You felt your knees brush against the ground and you opened your eyes. Sans's long hands clawed at the ground next to you, popping and twisting and compressing back into normal skeleton hands as he yelled with a single voice.

He was breathing hard and shaking violently, but the sudden jerks were slowing down. You held on to his round skull for a bit, letting the last trembles settle before finally letting go. Sans unsteadily looked up at you with his two little lights in his eye sockets, tears streaming down his face.

"Hah… I-I th-…thought I told y-you not to… to get into t-trouble…" He almost attempted a smile before collapsing unconscious into your arms.

You sat there a moment, trying to comprehend what happened. You… saved Sans. Sans is back. You choke back a sob, more tears building at your eyes. You lean down and hug Sans's skull, overjoyed that he was back to normal. You gasp and almost drop him, your arms firing almost unbearable pains through your body. You glance down at Sans and see that he had red lining his chin. You slowly look at your arms and see massive red stains leaking through your sleeves, your blood still warm from the cuts on your arms. You noticed a headache building.

You swallow and shakily reach for Sans's jacket fumbling with the pockets before pulling out Sans's flip phone, somehow undamaged from everything. You flip it up and press [1], speed dialing [bro]. It rang twice before being picked up.

"Errr… Human? Is this you? Why are you using my brothers phone?" His voice seemed unnerved.

"I-" You coughed, "I found him…" You suddenly realized how cold it felt.

"What? Where are you? Is he okay?"

You shake your head to try and get rid of the headache. "He's back… We're at the willow tree… at the park." It was really cold. "Sans is back… With me at… the willow tree."

"You said that. Don't worry, we are on our way! Are you okay? You sound hurt."

The trees started looking further away, but you didn't focus on it. You weakly grab Sans with your free arm and start scooting back slightly, just enough so you could lean against the tree. "I'm… just a little tired…" You lower your eyes and rest against the tree, arm loosely holding onto Sans. The phone drops from your hand.

"Human! Are you still there? Human, please hang-" The world faded to black.


	9. Medicine Day

You smell anesthetics.

When you wake up, that's the first thing you notice. The second thing you notice is that you are very _cold_. There was something wet on top of your head, soaking your hair and making your head feel like it was freezing. You open your eyes to see white walls all around you, and a very ugly plain bed you were laying on. Undyne and the yellow dinosaur monster were talking to each other in one of the corners of the room, seeming like they were arguing about something.

The third thing you notice, and it took you a second to feel it, was that your arms _HURT_. Your hands turn into fists, and that doesn't help the pain at all. In fact, you think you just made it worse. "Aahh… ow…" You grumble, attempting to sit up. The monsters notice you move and quickly walk over to your bed.

"H-hey! Slow down there, its okay! You are at a hospital." The dino-lady said, but helped put a pillow under you. You dryly swallow, looking around the room more. Your eyes go to your arms and you blink in surprise. The sleeves of your shirt were cut off, and you could see lots of fresh black stitches trailing down the inside of your arms.

"What… what happened?" Your voice still hurt, but it mostly just felt dry. Undyne handed you a Styrofoam cup of water and you sipped from it.

"It took us forever to find your willow tree, apparently most people keep to the paths in the park. Psh, losers." Undyne started, crossing her arms. "We found you and Sans by the tree like you said, but you both were knocked out. Paps called help for you and took his brother home, and we followed you to make sure you'd be okay."

"You didn't loose as much blood as we originally thought, the doctors said it was just above the usual donation amount, but your low blood sugar was what ended up making you pass out. You really should eat more." Dino-lady said, hands messing with themselves. You finish the rest of your water.

"Yeah… I just didn't get around to it the last couple… days?" You blinked and realized you still didn't know how long you slept before, or even just now. Time just seems to vanish when you are with the monsters. "Um… what day is it?" You asked. Undyne checked her phone.

"Third of November, same day we found you and Sans. It's been a few hours since then though." Your jaw opened. There was no way it was that day, in your head the date didn't match up. Undyne saw your reaction and continued. "Paps was pretty worried about you when you didn't wake up at all that one day, he kept calling me and asking if humans can break. Glad you got better." She gave you a toothy smile. "Oh," she added, looking at the dino-lady, "Alphys bought you some fast food. The doctors said you could leave once you felt stable and ate something."

Alphys nodded, picking up a brown paper bag from a chair and putting it on the desk next to you. You smelt something salty and your stomach immediately growled. You were almost drooling within seconds. "Whoa… thanks a bunch!" You smiled at them, happy that Papyrus had such awesome friends.

.

After eating as much fast food as you could fit in your stomach, you felt so much better. The nurse came in to check on the stitches and give you a prescription for some pain meds, along with some instructions to make sure to take care of your arms so they could heal. They would scar, he couldn't do anything about that, but they would be easy enough to hide with long sleeves he said. You made sure to take mental notes on most of what he said, though you are pretty sure you missed some things.

You were allowed to leave afterwards, thankfully, and your insurance would cover the entire visit (to your surprise). It was pretty dark out now, and the monsters insisted on walking you home, which you accepted. After some small talk with the couple, you could see that you were on great terms with Undyne after today's events. She thought your scars were going to be really cool. You could see she couldn't wait to see them healed. She then started to show off all of the cool scars that she had, boasting a story for every one. You doubt that they were all true, not that you were going to say anything. They did look cool nonetheless.

When you opened the door, the heavenly smell of pasta flooded towards you. If you weren't completely full you would have considered having some just because it smelt so good. "Hey Papyrus, I'm home." You say while holding the door for the others. You heard pots and pans clanging from the kitchen suddenly, and you look over to see Papyrus attempting to clean up in few seconds you arrived.

"Human! I am glad you are back! Sans is sleeping in the spare room, so I decided to make a welcome back dinner for you!" He was so excited, so happy, you didn't want to disappoint him if you could help it.

"I already ate at the hospital, but I can have a little of whatever you prepared for me." You smiled, and that made him even happier. "Just give me a moment to change." You close the door and head to your room. You picked out some pajama pants and a baggy sweatshirt to wear, something nice and loose yet covering your arms. You were sad to throw away today's shirt, but it was heavily stained with blood and had the sleeves cut off. As badass as it sounded, it just looked wrecked to you. When you come out of your room Papyrus is standing with a plate of spaghetti ready for you.

"Here you are, Human! Come, sit! We can watch some Mettaton on the TV!" He quickly handed you the plate and rushed to the living room, plopping onto the couch.

You felt a moment of confusion but followed, and saw a new (slightly larger) TV sitting on the counter. "Where did that come from?" You ask, distinctly remembering your TV being destroyed by Sans.

"Oh, this is my and Sans's TV. A friend dropped it off for me, since yours ended up smashed." He patted the couch next to him and waited for you to sit. You sat, and he turned on the show with the robot again. Man, this guy must have been really popular underground.

Alphys and Undyne sat together on the lazy chair, watching the show with you. They were a pretty cute pair, you thought. Papyrus seemed to think so too, happily getting them things whenever they needed them so they didn't have to get up. Same with you, you discovered when you glanced towards the kitchen to consider getting something to drink. Papyrus was quick enough to grab you a glass of what you wanted, even if you said you could get it yourself. He was an insistent friend, but one of your best friends.

.

After a few episodes of... whatever that robot was supposed to do, you dumped your empty plate and cup into the sink. Papyrus was there and already cleaning the dishes for you, and you were relieved you wouldn't have to attempt using your arms like that just yet.

"I'll go check on Sans." You say to him and head to the spare room. You pause a bit, quietly knocking before opening the door. You look in and see Sans still sleep, looking peaceful. You were relieved. You quietly entered and closed the door behind you, scooting up a chair so you could be closer to the bed.

"Hey Sans," you whisper, not wanting to wake him but still wanting to talk to him. "Its good to have you back, even if you are asleep. You must be _bone tired_ from everything that happened." You laugh quietly to yourself, rubbing the back of your neck. "I think I already used that one… Still, it's a classic." You smile at him even if he couldn't see you.

You decide to stop talking; figuring that he might wake up and you'd end up needing to awkwardly explain yourself. Instead, you get more confortable in the chair, and allow the darkness of the room to lull you into sleep…

.

You wake up to Sans saying your name.

"Hmm?" You mumble a little, picking your face off of the bed sheets. Your back was complaining, and you realized that you were half sitting in the chair- half face planting on the bed. You look up to see Sans sitting up and looking at you from the bed. For the first time, you don't see any circles under his eyes. "Oh!" You straighten up faster than your back would have liked and rubbed your face, making sure you didn't have any drool. "Hey Sans!"

Sans laughed lightly at your rush, giving you a genuine smile. "Hey you. How are you?"

"You're asking _me_ that? I'm fine. I should be asking how are you?" You laugh a little, waiting for his response. He stalled a bit, seeming unsure on how to answer.

"I'm… good? I guess? I mean, obvious better than… _that_ …" He rubbed his arm. "I'm just… feeling strange, you know? …Small." He looked disgusted that he couldn't describe it better.

"Do you… remember-"

"Yes." He cuts your question off, avoiding your eyes. "I remember… almost everything." His smile vanishes. "I'm so sorry… I couldn't stop myself from…" He started shaking.

"Hey no! Its okay! You weren't you! The Sans I know wouldn't hurt anyone on purpose, unless they really, _really_ deserved it." You quickly say and reach out a hand to comfort him. He recoiled away from you. You froze.

"I-I… Sorry, I didn't mean…" He swallowed and sat normally, but you took your hand back to your lap. "I guess I'm just a bit… 'agh' still, you know?" He gave you a shaky smile, and you return a sad one.

"Sans, you don't have to worry. You're back! And if you ever turn into that thing again, I can always just tell you more of my terrible puns." You say reassuringly. Sans looked confused for a moment before suddenly remembering what you meant.

"Oh god, your PUNS!" He laughed, for real this time, and needed a moment before he could continue talking. "Those were too perfect; you literally healed me with the power of puns! And they were so good too, it's a shame I couldn't truly appreciate them then."

"I would be _fibula-ing_ if I didn't say I worked all night on them. I _tendon_ to reuse these puns a lot anyway." You quickly say, knowing well that you used these before. What can you say, you appreciated puns more than you could think of them. Sans didn't seem to mind, he was having troubles holding back his laughter as tears threatened the corners of his eyes.

"You are too amazing, god." He laughed out loud, bringing a hand to try and cover his mouth. You felt your face heat up slightly at what he said, you were glad the room was dark enough he probably wouldn't notice. You closed your eyes and acted overly flattered, putting a hand to your cheek and doing the 'oh you~' motion with the other. He giggled some more, and the sound instantly became one of your favorites.

His giggles suddenly stopped, and it startled you. You looked at him and saw him staring at your bandaged hand. His smile slowly dropped. "Did… did I do that?" He asked quietly. You quickly bring your hand closer to you so he couldn't see it.

"No! Well, sorta, it was me though. I scraped it when I jumped onto the sidewalk, its just a few scratches." You quickly explain. Sans looked down at the bed. "It looks a lot worse than it is, Papyrus used a lot more bandages than was necessary." You tug your sleeves to cover more of your hands.

"Heh, he tends to do that…" He smiled slightly at the bed sheet before turning back to you. "Hey, look, I _am_ really sorry about all of that." He cut off your interjection with a hand. "I know I wasn't _me_ … but I'm still _so_ sorry."

You gently grab his hand. "Then I forgive you. Don't let it hang over you, okay? Just tell me next time something's up, I don't want you going through that alone." He looked shocked, freezing up and catching his breath. Tears built up at the corners of his eyes. He quickly nodded and pulled you into a hug, pressing his face into your neck and trying to hide his crying.

You hug him back, ignoring your protesting arms. You place a hand to the back of his skull, holding him close and letting him cry. "Thank you." He whispered, if you weren't listening you would have missed it.

You let him cry for what felt like a few minutes before he finally pulled back, wiping at his face with the back of his hand. "Thank you." He said louder this time, though you weren't sure what he was thanking your for this time.

"Anything for you." You give him a smile. You sit with him for a bit before standing. "Well, I guess I should let you rest. I'm sure you still need more of it." You start heading to the door, noticing Sans jumping and looking like he wanted to say something. He didn't. You turned the doorknob and paused, thinking a moment. "Shit… I'm not sure if Undyne and Alphys are still here…"

"Was it dark when they came?" Sans asked.

"Yeah, pretty dark."

"Then they are stealing your bed for the night. Bro wouldn't let them leave if it was dark out." Sans said, and you had no doubt that it was true. If they had your bed, Papyrus would be on the couch, and Sans has the spare… You lost rights to all of your furniture in your own apartment. Sans saw you pause. "Hey, you can just sleep here tonight. I'll keep you safe from any monsters in your closet." You could hear the cocky smile in his voice. You looked at him, unsure.

He shuffled over a bit in the bed, patting beside him. You hesitated, and he quickly lost the smirk. "Hey, I can sleep in the chair if you'd be more comfortable. I just don't want you without someplace proper to sleep-"

"No, its okay." You smile and step towards the bed. "You just seemed like you didn't want to be near me earlier so I thought-"

"No no that was because of before-" The two of you kept cutting each other off and both of you ended up laughing.

"Right. Well then." You crawled into bed and got comfortable, Sans was sure give you enough room in the bed. "Thanks. Sleep well, Sans."

"You too. Try not to drool on me this time." He joked. You laughed a little before stopping.

"Wait what."


	10. Movie Day

Sleeping with Sans was nerve-wracking. The first few minutes of lying there was fine, you got comfortable on your side of the bed and let your body relax. You almost forgot Sans was there, until he shifted his weight and you felt his hand brush against you. Now, you were wide-awake. You face was warm and you tried not focusing on it, trying to think of anything other than the fact you were sharing a bed with a skeleton. One that didn't sleep like the dead, you notice as he shifted his weight again.

Your shoulders didn't feel as comfortable as they could, so you carefully rolled over to your stomach to try and fix that. Your hand accidentally rested on San's femur before you pulled it back under you, but you could feel Sans stiffen up. Thank god it was dark in here and you were facing away from Sans, you didn't want him to be able to see how burning red your face was getting. You were only sharing a bed for fucks sake! Wait, you want to rephrase that. Uh. Pete's sake. Okay better.

Your hands go to your face as you try to push your stupid blush away. He's just a skeleton, and a friend, why were you acting so awkward? You quietly take a big breath and attempt to settle down again. He's just a friend. Just a… wait was he already sleeping?

You turn your head and see that he had his eyes closed and a slight snore was coming from him. See, he got to sleep so quickly; this must not be awkward in the slightest for him. Stop making this awkward for you. Your thoughts scrambled and you grabbed at your face again. You felt your neck was already getting tight from this position, so you turned back to your back.

If you kept moving like this, you'd never be able to sleep. Or worse, you would and then roll onto Sans some time during the night. You wrap your arms across your stomach and tightly tuck your hands under your sides. You took a deep breath, calming your thoughts and slowing your heart. Even in this position you already started feeling sleep tickling the edges of your mind. It was pretty uncomfortable, but this way you knew that it was completely impossible to end up touching Sans.

.

You wake up tangled with Sans.

Soon as you wake up you forget the strange dream you were having, and immediately become aware of the short skeleton that was half on top of you, both of your limbs impossibly tangled around each other. How the hell does this happen while you sleep and no one wake up? The bed sheet and a pillow were on the ground, and your leg was dangling off of the bed in the cold air. Sans was surprisingly warm, you didn't expect a skeleton to be able to produce heat, but you assumed it had something to do with magic.

Maybe magic was the answer to everything that involved Sans. You laid there for a bit, afraid to move just like before but even more so now. Sans was snoring lightly, and you didn't remember him snoring last time you woke up with him on the couch. _That little shit_. He was awake the entire time! You couldn't muster up any anger at that thought though, you only felt heat rise to your cheeks the more you thought about it. You took a breath and pulled up your leg that was dangling, carefully slipping it back on the bed and accidently bumping Sans.

He grumbled, his hands tightening slightly around you as his head got comfortable against your neck again. You felt a new heat rise to your face when his teeth brushed against your skin. Why the hell were you reacting this way? You swallowed. You knew why, but you were just trying to deny it. Your entire head was screaming and you didn't know what to do. You tried shifting your weight ever so slightly, and Sans's grip only tightened, his snore stuttering a moment before continuing.

 _Shitshitshitshitshit_. You started panicking again, eyes darting all around the room as if it might have your answer. The screaming in your head paused for a moment, and you heard the sand-shifting sound faintly. Sans's bones were further away than last time, but you could barely make out the relaxing sound in the dead quiet of the room. The sound shut up your thoughts, and you didn't mind listening to it. You let your eyes close to help better focus on the distant sound, and you felt yourself being lulled back to sleep soon enough.

.

Sans's voice saying your name wakes you up some time later, and you blink awake. You feel much colder than before, to your disappointment. You felt your arms still in the same position, but no longer wrapped around Sans. "Hmmmmm?" You grumble and stretch, arms pulling tight in front of you and sending all of your pain receptors going crazy. You bit your cheek and cut your stretch short.

"Hey there lazy bones, about time you get up, it's past noon." You look over and see Sans standing beside the bed, leaning against the wall and looking down at you with his half smile. You felt your face getting redder and you quickly turned away, nodding and pretending to continue to stretch. You swore you heard him snicker, and your face got even redder.

"So, what's the plan for today?" You ask, still not looking at him.

"Absolutely nothing. I don't want to leave the house at all today." He laughed, and you could completely understand.

"Shitty movie day?"

"Shitty movie day."

.

And so, it was a shitty movie day for the two of you. Sans stole one of your old roommate's pajamas to be lazy in, and you made some popcorn as Sans chose a random selection of movies. Papyrus joined you part way through the first movie, but received a call from Undyne and left to do some training with her. The two of you had the entire apartment to yourselves, and you spent it wisely by turning up the volume on the TV.

Part way through the second movie Sans sat closer to you, putting an arm around the back of the couch and resting his hand near your shoulder. You felt your face getting warmer again. _Shitshitshitshit_. He didn't seem to notice, he was pretty into the crappy movie and was laughing whenever anything absurd happened.

Third movie in the two of you switched seats, Sans's arm still resting around the back of your seat. This time it was just a really old movie about three movie heroes trying to save the day in Mexico, and man it was golden in every way. It seemed like every scene had the two of you laughing, to the point you actually hand to lean against Sans for support. He didn't object. In fact, he actually laid more against the couch arm so you could lean into him comfortably.

Fourth shitty movie in your marathon was a parody of some space movies. You could hardly consider your "shitty movie marathon" valid anymore, since these last two movies were purposely bad in some cases, and in the end made them some of the best movies you've seen in a while. You no longer were worried about your position on the couch; you were practically laying on Sans now. He had his arm on you to help keep you steady when you laughed, and you noticed his thumb lightly rubbing small circles on your shoulder.

Fifth movie in, both of you were pretty worn out. The movie started playing before either of you could reach the remotes, and both of you were too lazy to stop it. Sans was sitting back normally, you were lying across his lap and watching the movie from the couch arm. At least you were for half the movie, before you shifted your position and started hissing in pain.

"You okay?" Sans asked concerned. You rolled off of him and sat onto the floor, grabbing at your tight neck.

"Aaaaaghhhh neck crampppppp…." You groan and tried moving your head the other direction to loosen up the muscles, instantly regretting it when the cold pain trailed down to your shoulder. You start digging your fingers into the muscles in an attempt of a massage, though you couldn't get it just right.

"Here, let me help." Sans said, gently pulling your shoulders so you sat in front of the couch. His legs went to either side of your arms, and his boney fingers brushed against your neck. You dropped your hands into your lap and started watching the TV again, trying to hide the redness of your face.

"Like this?" His fingers rubbed at the sides of your neck lightly, barley pushing.

"Nah, you gotta dig a little. It's my muscles that are tight." You explained. You figured that a skeleton wouldn't have the issues of muscle cramps, and you felt some envy invade your thoughts. The envy quickly left as Sans followed your instructions, his fingers pressing harder and massaging deep in your neck muscles. You shudder and lean forward a bit, startling Sans. He paused a moment as if to make sure you were okay, and slowly continued. It was clear he didn't know what he was doing, but he was sure _good_ at it.

He hit a sweet spot and you automatically moved your head to allow him better access to it, giving a heavy sigh. You heard him laugh slightly, seeming to get used to how you respond to the massage.

"This feels that good?" He pressed again and rubbed, the nerves under the skin firing and making you close your eyes.

"Mmhmm." You mumble, smiling when he laughed again. God, you loved that sound. He kept it up, focusing his attempts to either one side of the neck or the other, but always keeping both sets of his fingers moving. His thumb was rubbing circles near your spine, and it felt like _heaven_.

After a while of this, he shifted his weight and focused his attention elsewhere. One hand kept to your neck, the other rubbing above your shoulder and you nearly melted. It has been far too long since you had any sort of massage and your body knew it. You no longer paid attention to the movie, only focusing on how good Sans's hands felt.

To be honest, most of the "massage" felt more like he was just messing with your flesh, rolling it between his phalanges and pushing it around like dough. But hell if you were going to stop him from having his fun. He focused more on your shoulders and some of your back now, you leaned forward to let him have the access, you were pretty sure the movie was forgotten about by the both of you now. Who even cared about cowboys and sheriffs anyway?

If any other human were massaging you, they would be complaining or be finished by now. You can only massage someone for so long before your hands start hurting… but apparently not skeletons. You were resting your elbows on the ground and your chin in your hands, Sans barely sitting on the couch he was leaning over you so much. You look back with heavy eyelids, seeing Sans still looking interested as a child with a new toy as he pushed the skin of your back around.

"Aren't you tired?" Your voice seems to shock him out of his focus, causing him to pause and blink.

"Should… I be?" He seemed confused, then looked a little concerned like he thought he did something wrong.

"No, well, yes. Sorta." You start, laughing a little. "Most people get tired of massaging others by now, you still good?"

He sat up a little, nodding slightly. "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. I can stop if you want me to..?" You shook your head; him stopping was the last thing you wanted.

"If you are willing to keep going, I'm not going to stop you." You laugh, but have an idea. "Here, hand me the pillows." You point to the pillow by him, and he gives it to you along with the one on the other side. You put one on the ground and lay on your stomach, arms to the side. You place the other one on your butt and give it a pat. "Here, you can continue now." You laughed lightly, getting comfortable on the floor.

Sans hesitated, slowly lowering himself to the floor and supporting himself on his knees, before gently sinking onto the pillow. You waited a moment and wondered if this was too uncomfortable for him. Before you could say anything, his hands were back on your back and massaging your skin. You suppressed a moan as he managed to rub all of the spots that seriously needed to relax.

The next movie started playing on the TV, though neither of you paid it any mind. Sounded like some romantic comedy from the intro, but the beat only made you more tired. "Hey Sans?" You ask, turning your head out of the pillow.

"Yeah?"

"Your hands are made of magic." He looked confused for a moment before you laughed, and he laughed too. You shook your head and plopped it back down on the pillow. "No really, I'm probably going to fall asleep if you keep this up. Just so you know." You closed your eyes and continued to enjoy the massage.

"Is that alright with you if you do?" He asked, slowing down his hands slightly, unsure if you wanted him to stop now.

"Hell yeah." You mumble into the pillow. "Just stop whenever you get bored man, I don't mind feeling this good." You laugh quietly to yourself. You felt Sans nod and pick up the pace again, messing with the skin on your back like play dough.

You were a human of your word, and by the time the main characters of the new movie were introduced, sleep stole you away from the waking world.


	11. Travel Day

You wake up to the door of your apartment slamming. You startle, but not able to jump much due to the heavy short skeleton lying on top of you. Sans snorted awake, tightening his arms around your stomach in a stretch and grumbling his face between your shoulder blades.

"What are you two still doing asleep? Its already noon!" Papyrus barged into the room, looking down at the two of you. Normally you would have quickly sat up or attempted to pretend not to be sleeping, but you just felt so relaxed… You lazily look up at Papyrus with one open eye.

"Hey bro," Sans mumbled, you felt him turning his head slightly to look at Papyrus as well. "Sup?"

"Sup? Sup? Only that the two of you are sleeping on the floor and some movie is still playing on the TV! Is this all you two did last night?" Papyrus didn't seem quite angry… maybe offended? "I could expect this kind of laziness from my brother, but not from you, Human!"

You laughed, bouncing Sans slightly. "Sorry Paps, but we all need a lazy day." Sans nodded, and Papyrus stomped his foot.

"Fine, if that is true, then today you shall be extra active!" He declared. He paused, waiting for the two of you to react. He waited longer. "Well?"

"Do we haaaaave tooooooo?" You asked and dragged out your words. You were still so, so comfortable on the floor under Sans… Just five more minutes…

"Yes! If you lay here any longer plants will start growing around you!" He exclaimed. You laugh and move your arms up, doing a half attempted push up and struggling under Sans, biting your cheek when you felt a dull pain.

"Fine, fine, we'll get up." You grumble and tilt your body, Sans rolling off and landing on the floor with an 'oomph'. Papyrus seemed happy and headed to the kitchen. "Oh! Sans, Toriel called! She said she wanted to talk to you."

"Tori?" Sans's head immediately picked up, shocking you. "Thanks bro, I'll call her."

"Who's Toriel?" You ask, sitting on the floor comfortably and looking at Sans. He wore a goofy grin and looked to the side.

"Just a friend from the underground." The way he was smiling made you doubt that, but you nodded anyway. "Hey, you should meet her! You'd love Tori." He smiled at the idea, and you don't think you've seen him so excited about anything before. "You don't have any plans do you?"

You laughed at his joke. "HA. Plans, without you? Yeah right." His smile got bigger.

"I'll be right back." He quickly got up and grabbed his phone from his jacket and headed to the spare room. You sat and watched him leave, not really knowing what he had planned. The door closed, and you heard his muffled voice a few moments later.

Figuring you have a few minutes of free time, you headed to your room and popped off the cage lid for Samus. "Hey hun, how are you doing?" You pull her out and sit on the bed, letting her coil around your arm. She looked at you with her flicking tongue, and you swore she looked disappointed that it was you. "You just want your new play mate don't you?" She flicked her tongue. You took it as 'Yes' in snake speak. You laughed and let her hang off your arm, dangling slightly before flopping onto the bed.

She slithered around the blanket, poking your legs with her face and slowly climbing over them just to get to the other side instead of simply going around you. You watched her travel around a little, occasionally picking her up and moving her away from the edge of the bed. Time must have passed a lot faster than you thought; you heard a knock at your open door and look up to see a grinning Sans. You smile and wave him in. He takes the offer and sits on your bed, carefully keeping his eyelights on Samus.

"So, we have a date?" You ask him, before realizing your choice of words. You saw his cheeks turn slightly blue out of shock. "I-I mean, hangout session, with Toriel?"

Sans's shock quickly vanished with a sheepish smile. "One better, picnic night out of town tonight. A few of my friends from underground plan on being there to catch up on these months of being above ground, Tori wanted to let me know and invite me. You cool with coming?" He looked hopeful, as if you even had a chance of telling him no.

"Of course. It'll be fun." You smile at him and his grin gets bigger. "Anyway, I feel like I need a shower." You stand and pick up Samus. Sans watched you as you turned to the cage before speaking.

"Wait… I- uh, can I hold it again?" He asked, catching you off guard.

"You want to? After what she did last time?"

"Yeah, I'll be careful this time." He nodded, looking anxious but almost excited. You smile and put Samus on the bed.

"Okay… Pick her up. Show me you are fine with grabbing her." You take a step back and watch. Sans looked at you, at the snake, back at you. You motion to Samus and wait. He swallowed and carefully reached out, grabbing her around her lower stomach area. Samus kept her head pointed at Sans as he lifted her and put his other hand under her. She was calm as he lowered her, simply coiling into herself as he put her down in his boney hands. He watched her as he rested his free hand, waiting for her to do something. After a moment of being still and simply looking at Sans, she darted for under his sleeve.

You inhale and rush forward to help, but Sans holds out a hand to stop you. He calmly (while looking like he was already sweating) took off his jacket, slipping his arm infested with the snake out last. You saw Samus tied between his radius and ulna, looping her long body around both bones a few times in a figure-eight fashion. She stuck out her tongue, looking satisfied with her new climbing toy.

"S-see? I got it… I'm good. " Sans shakily smiled at you, though he did seem like he was having… fun? He looked amused, to say the least.

"Okay, do you trust Samus enough to let me shower real quick?" You ask, keeping a careful eye on both of them. You trusted Sans, obviously, but it was Samus you were worried about leaving alone with him.

"Yeah, I got this." He nodded, seeming more confident. You raise an eyebrow to make sure, and started grabbing clean clothes.

"Right, then I'll be right back." You paused a moment, waiting for Sans to back out, and turned to leave the room.

"W-wait! What should I do… _If_ I end up not trusting the beast?" He asked, looking concerned for a moment. You laugh a bit, rubbing the back of your neck.

"Just block her path, make her climb something else. If she is discouraged to climb something, she'll just go around it." You explain, hoping it'd be all he needed. "If worse comes to worse, you can just gently unwrap her. She wont put up too much of a fight."

Sans nodded, turning his attention back to Samus. He looked like he was concentrating incredibly hard on taking care of the snake, and you almost laughed. You quietly left the room and head to the bathroom, hoping that you didn't return to a disaster.

.

The shower felt good, though the heat hardly helped you relax like it usually did. You don't think you ever felt your back muscles so relaxed before a shower. Just how long did Sans massage you last night? You changed clothes in the bathroom and looked in the mirror, happy to see that the bruises on your face were gone, and you just had a couple of cuts left that were healing nicely.

You wish you could say the same with your arms. You looked down to see the ugly cuts trail down the inside, the black stitches dashing and crossing over each other to hold your skin together. You were lucky the cut stopped a couple inches short of your wrist, making it easy enough to hide with long sleeves. You tug a sweatshirt over your arms, hissing a little when the sleeves brushed against the stitching. You sucked in a breath and slipped your hands through the holes, feeling better once it was over with.

There, Sans never has to see it now. He said he remembered _almost_ everything, and even remembered your puns, but he never looked at or mentioned your arms. Hopefully he doesn't remember, _and he wont need to_ , you think aggressively. He felt bad enough as it was, him seeing you having these scars would ruin him.

You yank the sleeves lower to cover part of your hand, and head out of the bathroom. About to knock on your cracked bedroom door, you paused when you heard Sans talking to someone.

"…and I mean, what do humans even like? You are just as much as a monster as I am, but you lived with humans for pretty much all your life. I could really use some advice." He must be talking to Toriel again, you think. "Yeah, yeah, okay missy, look here. If I weren't desperate, I wouldn't be asking _you_. What do I do? I can't just keep having them drag me to all these places, its just plain rude!" You breath gets caught in your throat as it tightens, heat draining from your face. He… Didn't enjoy the d- hangout sessions? You swallow and try to take a breath, forcing back the prickling feeling in your eyes.

Obviously he didn't enjoy them, you tried to reason. He was a monster, and monsters like doing other things rather than just… being lazy with humans. You rubbed under your nose and turned to walk away, not feeling like you would be able to look at Sans at the moment.

"They've been taking me to all these amazing places that mean something to them, and I'm not even sure if I have any places that are half as special to bring them. I can't let them be the only one putting in the effort of… this." You pause, startled at the change of wording. "Everything I've ever known was underground, and I doubt they'd like it under there too much. The most beautiful place I've seen other than our dates was the sunrise when we first got out… But…" He paused. "The picnic! Oh! Little beast, you are brilliant!" You heard him laugh.

"Little beast?" You whisper under your breath and peak through the crack of your door, seeing Sans laying on the bed and holding Samus above his head while she looked down at him. They were having a conversation, you realize with a smile. You head back to the bathroom and splash your face, making sure you weren't red from the scare.

You look in the mirror, seeing a stupid smile stuck on your face. "S-shut up!" You whisper to yourself, smile only getting bigger. Your cheeks were red, but for a different reason than before. You press your hands to your face and take a breath, trying to push back that stupid giddiness. It was impossible, you knew. Sans… actually did like you. O-or he wanted to keep this friendship as awesome as it has been and- Wait he called your hangout sessions "dates." You felt another rush coming and you quickly splashed your face again.

You heard a knock at the door. "Hey… You done? I'd like to put Samus down now, but the beast is kinda… stuck." You heard Sans through the door, and you cant help but laugh. You open the door and see Samus looking cheery while being wrapped around Sans's hand and shoulder at the same time, making his arm look like it was a rather uncomfortable position. You smile and nod, walking him back to your bedroom.

After some quiet untangling of the snake, you released Samus back into her cage and closed the lid. You looked at Sans and crossed your arms, mock-defensive for your snake. "What's that look for?" Sans asked, seeming worried that he did something wrong.

" _Her_ name is _Samus_. She is not an ' _it'_ , nor is she called a ' _beast_.'" You correct him, making sure he understood the proper terms to call your baby. He looked relieved and laughed, rubbing his shoulder.

"Heh, fine. 'Samus' is a very pretty 'snake-lady-thing.'" He made quotation marks in the air for his corrections and you rolled your eyes at him. "Anyway, grab what you want for the picnic, the other monsters will have food to share, but I'm not sure if you will like most of it."

You nod, excited to go to the picnic now. You turn to leave your bedroom, pausing when an idea hit. "Uhh… How are we getting there? I don't have a car, and you said it was out of town." Sans nodded and waved a hand.

"Alphys's robot can drive, I heard he got a new car to show off to Papyrus." He smiled like it was an inside joke, but you didn't get it. You nodded anyway and headed to the kitchen.

Papyrus was furiously making spaghetti, there was at least six food storage containers were stacked and filled with the stuff. "Looks like I wont need to worry about edible food…" You mumble, looking at the mess that was taking place in your kitchen. Sans smiled in the 'I'm not so sure' way, shrugging. You laughed.

.

About a half hour later, you heard honking from outside your apartment. You look out of your (still broken) window, and see a bright pink sports car parked and half full with monsters. Alphys and Undyne were in the back seat, currently making out. A familiar robot stepped out of the drivers seat and put his sunglasses on top of his head, brushing his hair out of his face as he examined your apartment.

Papyrus rushed out of the door to greet the robot, you and Sans quickly followed. "Papy, darling! How are you doing my gentle-beauty? It's been far too long!" The flamboyant robot quickly wrapped his arms around Papyrus in a hug.

"I have been great! I've been living with this human for a while now, every day is very exciting!" Papyrus said, breaking the hug and pushing you towards the robot. He looked down at you with a raised eyebrow.

"So you are the little human taking care of my Papy? I've heard so much about you!" His metallic arms coiled around you tightly in a hug, lifting you from the ground and swinging you around before lowering you.

"Wait, you are the robot from the TV show." You suddenly remember where you've seen the robot from before. He smiles and puts his hands to his face, as if he just saw something cute.

"I didn't know you were a fan of the famous Mettaton as well as an absolute cutie!" He pinches your cheek, and you had half the mind to correct him about your status as a 'fan.' He lets go of your face and smiles greatly at you. "Well, any friend of Papy's is a friend of mine!" He started to turn back to his car, noticing Sans. "Sans." He said plainly.

"Mettaton." Sans replied just as flatly. You could tell they just had a _great_ friendship. Mettaton motioned to the car and the three of you climbed in. Unfortunately this kind of car only had five seats, so you and Sans had to squeeze in back with Alphys and Undyne, sharing a seatbelt and awkwardly trying to give the kissing couple their space.

"All buckled in?" Mettaton looked back and flicked down his shakes, making sure that all of you were safe. "Good. We have a party to go to!" He pushed metal to the petal… to the metal…. And floored his car down the road. You instantly regretted not taking a bus instead.

.

After about a half hour of driving through town and listening to funky jazz type music, you noticed a mountain in the distance. "Is that… Mount Ebott?" You ask, leaning past Sans to get a closer look. It had to be, there were no other mountains nearby, but you were still shocked to see it.

"Yep. The picnic spot is where we finally left the underground. Seemed the most fitting place to get all back together." Sans said. Surprisingly, you weren't headed towards the mountain. Soon the towering buildings and the mountain looked the same size, and Mettaton turned off of the main road and towards a large hill. You looked ahead and saw a few cars parked together in a nice little grassy opening in the trees, and Mettaton parked with them. You saw a few monsters of all kinds grabbing stuff out of their cars, and you quickly noticed you were the only human here so far. You were starting to feel unsure about this.

"Come on beauties and gentle-beauties! Let's play catch up!" Mettaton said and exited the car dramatically. The others quickly got out, but you and Sans struggled with the seatbelt for a bit before finally becoming free. You step out and look up to see a massive… goat-monster? He had golden hair and beard, large horns curling above his small crown, and a large white turtleneck sweater on.

"Howdy friends! So glad you were able to make it!"


	12. Picnic Day

The massive Goat Monster smiled and looked at everyone, noticing you last. "Oh! I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met." He held out a massive furry hand. "I'm Asgore, the monster king."

You accepted his handshake, even if your hand felt less than half the size of his. "It's nice to meet- Wait, the monster king?" You were shocked, wondering if you should be kneeling or something. It would explain the tiny crown on the top of his head.

He smiled warmly and let go of your hand. "Please, here I am just another monster. Call me Asgore." You nodded, introducing yourself. "Well, I'm glad you were able to make it. Please, meet everyone, enjoy!" He welcomed you to the picnic, stepping to the side and showing just how many monsters that were here.

…There were a lot. When Sans said "a few friends," you had assumed just a "few" monsters, not a small population. The others weren't fazed, and Sans elbowed you to get your attention. He gave you a smile, waving at you to follow him as he trailed ahead of the others. You did, following him around groups of monsters that turned to look at you. A few scary looking ones turned to you, and you found yourself grabbing onto Sans's arm. He looked startled and looked at you, seeing your expression, and glanced to where you were staring.

"Hey… Its okay. They are harmless. They are here to meet everyone just like us." He said soothingly, patting your hand with is free one. You nodded and turned your attention back to where he was leading you, though focusing more on the ground.

After some weaving through the groups, Sans tapped your hand to get your attention. You look up, seeing another goat-monster, this one appearing female, and a small human child looking up to her.

"Tori!" Sans said, getting her attention. She looked over and smiled happily, excitably waving to Sans. He brought you over and quickly introduced you to her.

"So nice to meet you! I'm Toriel, though I guess you knew that. This is Frisk, the one who freed us." You look to the kid she motioned to, a small child with a blue-purple striped shirt and a red heart locket. They were smiling fully, squinting their eyes in the process. Frisk nodded silently to you, seeming relieved that there was another human here as much as you were. Papyrus ran up and picked up Frisk in a hug, completely interrupting your hello to the child.

You laughed anyway, watching Papyrus change down and play with them as if they were siblings that haven't seen each other in forever. "So Tori, how've you been?" Sans looked up to Toriel, massive smile plastered on his face.

"Oh you know, Sans, teaching at the school has been wonderful, but I would be fibula-ing if I said I didn't miss our jokes." A bit of shock hit you from the familiar pun. Sans laughed, throwing in his own pun for a response. You laughed, trying to hide your shock. You weren't his only "pun pal," not that it was that big of a deal. Though she did make a couple of amazing puns, ones you would have never thought of. Damn. She was good.

Tori started talking about how she was a teacher at the school close by, and taking care of Frisk. Apparently there were quite a few xenophobic parents that she had to deal with, and Sans asked for their names. They laughed together, but you could start to feel the awkward third wheel feeling weigh in your gut at the reunion. Sans was happy to catch up, and so you wanted him to have the time to do so.

"I'm going to meet some others… I'll find you later!" You say quickly, tapping on Sans's arm.

"Hmm? Sure, okay. Find me if you _kneed_ me." He smiled at his pun as Toriel lost it, laughing hard and holding her gut. You nodded, quickly stepping back and starting to look around.

See, humans were more or less the same type all around. Two arms, two legs, head, body, various shapes and colors. Monsters were… different. First you had Sans, basically a living skeleton. Then you had humanoid animals, like bunny people and dog people, talking to the left of you. But then you also had the massive… _things_ that you couldn't even begin to try and figure out. A large one was looking at you as you passed (you think), and it looked like it was made out of some sort of slime. Its legs looked like it was made from the outlines of dogs, and it had a gapping hole in its face (at least you hope it was its face).

You give it a nervous smile and quickly moving on, walking faster and keeping your head low. Some more monsters turned to look at you, all of them seeming surprised a human wandering around here. You felt so out of place, you shouldn't have left Sans's side, you shouldn't have come here, you shouldn't have-

"Oof." You let out a grunt and rub your head, looking up to see Mettaton looking over his shoulder. "Oh… sorry Met-"

"Darling! So good to find you again! You are just in time to meet my amazing cousin!" Mettaton didn't seem to notice you bumped into him, and instead grabbed you around the shoulders to place you in front of him. A piano was set up next to some computers and square boxes with lights, and behind it was a pale, floating ghost wearing headphones.

"O-oh… hey there… Nice to see a human here… not that I expected a human, or anything… O-oh…" They seemed shy, or maybe depressed. Probably both.

"Napstablook, darling cousin, this is the human that is taking care of my Papy." He gave you a quick squeeze. "And Sans." Mettaton added as an afterthought. The ghost finally looked up to your eyes, quickly looking down at his piano again.

"O-oh… Do you like music? I can make some music if you'd like… but its not that good…" Their eyes looked wet, and you immediately wanted to make him feel better.

"I'm sure that's not true! I'm sure it's a lot better than anything I could do!" You say quickly, knowing it was probably the truth. They had all these fancy stuff near him, and you hardly knew a single tune.

"O-oh… I'm not sure… You play an instrument?" They seemed interested, and you regretted wording it like that.

"I know one song on the piano, my aunt taught it to me when I was little, but I don't think I remember-" They floated over slightly to make room behind the piano, and Mettaton quickly pushed you to it.

"You just _have_ to show us, Darling!" He angled you to in front of the keyboard, and you felt even more anxious than before. Napstablook pressed some buttons on their square device, quietly waiting for you.

You swallowed, hands resting on the keyboard for a bit and trying to remember how to start. "I-I haven't played in years… S-so…" You stuttered, quickly shutting up after hearing your voice. You pressed in a cord, pausing. Yeah, that sounded right. Single note. Sure. Another lower cord, ugh you don't know. Maybe another lower note. Fuck, okay, you were stalling. You did another quick cord, and finally jumped into the song.

They keys suddenly became familiar, your fingers stepping over each other smoothly without any stumbling. If you hadn't been awed at how amazing it was sounding, you would have been startled that you haven't messed up yet. You continued, vaguely hoping that Sans was close enough to hear it. You noticed Napstablook occasionally pressing different buttons, seeming incredibly interested in your little song. You glance up, half expecting your aunt to be giving you two thumbs up, but instead saw a bunch of monsters watching you as you played. Your hands stumbled.

"Ahh! Shit, sorry. I… It's been a while-" Before you could finish your excuse, robotic arms wrapped around you and lifted you up.

"That was beautiful darling! Absolutely wonderful! Napstablook dear, did you get it sampled? Please tell me you did!" Mettaton swung you around, absolutely floored with your minute performance.

"O-oh… I did… Though I doubt I will be able to make it sound any better… O-oh…" Napstablook looked down, eyes appearing extra watery.

"Hey its okay! That's literally the only song I know! I bet you can do lots of cool things! Do you have a cell phone?" You asked, not really sure what answer you expected from a ghost.

"O-oh… yeah…. Here…" They pulled out his iPhone as Mettaton put you down, and you put in your contact information for the sad ghost.

"There! Now you can send me some things you've made! I'd love to hear them some time." You give them a friendly grin, and that seemed to earn a slight smile from him.

.

After some time talking and listening to music with Napstablook and Mettaton, you decide to go look for Sans again. You say some quick goodbyes, and start carefully walking around the groups of monsters to look for your short friend. Dang… You couldn't even see Papyrus from where you were…

You kept looking around, before noticing someone singing your tune. You paused, dropping your search for Sans and walked past a few trees that were lining the clearing, seeing even more monsters hanging out close to a small lake. Near the edge was a monster that looked like a black haired mermaid, far as you could tell. She had one of those anglerfish lights on the top of her head, and a fin parting her hair in back.

"Hey there cutie~ Why don't you come on in? The water feels great." You turn and notice a large horse-merman… monster winking at you. You take a step back, unsure about the sudden appearance of this monster.

"Uh, sorry, I was just looking for a friend…" You start, looking at the other groups of monsters. You look back and notice the sea horse closer, leaning on a tree. He was somehow standing on his fin, unbothered about being on land.

"I could be that friend, babe." He winked again at you, flexing his strong arms to show off to you. You felt incredibly uncomfortable around this creep.

"S-sorry! I have to go." You quickly say and turn to leave, a hand stopping your shoulder.

"What's the rush? Just chill in the lake a bit with me~" You felt a shiver up your spine and quickly pulled away from the monster, turning and keeping your eyes on him. You hear a voice say your name, and you look over to see Sans quickly walking towards you.

"There you are, I was looking everywhere for you." He smiled at you, though it quickly dropped when he saw the sea horseman. "Come on, there is something I need to show you." He jerked his head in the direction he came from, and you wasted no time heading that way. "Aaron," he calmly started, but a sudden chill filled the air behind you. "Back the fuck off." You heard his voice drop, threatening. You heard a splash, and Sans was walking beside you. You look back and see the sea horse monster in the water, quickly making conversation with some sort of… turtle?

"Ugh, he didn't change at all." Sans groaned, tucking his hands in his pockets as he walked with you. "Anyway, the picnic is going to be going on until after morning, so I set up a sweet place to sleep." You blinked, not realizing monster picnics were this big of an event.

"O-or we could go home, if you wanted." Sans added, seeing your shocked expression. "I know this is a lot different than what you are probably used to, and I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable…" You considered taking the offer, but you really didn't want to ruin Sans reunion with all of his friends.

"No… I'm okay. I can survive until tomorrow." You give him a smile, and he returned it.

"Okay, then follow me." He pulled his hands out of his pockets and led you through the trees along the opening, this way keeping out of the path of all the other monsters. You matched his pace, walking beside him silently, wondering where you two were going. Your hand bumped into his.

"Oh! Sorry!" You quickly pull your hand up and take a step away, but Sans stopped walking. You stopped as well, looking at him worried.

"Actually… Can I see something?" He stepped closer to you, seeming concerned. You nod, and he gently grabs your hand, looking at it closely. You wondered what he was looking for. You took the Band-Aids off this morning, since you barely had red lines left where the scratches were. He turns it over humming slightly, nods, and weaves his fingers between yours. "There we go, much better." He starts walking again, hand in yours. Your breath catches in your throat, and you nearly stumble to move with him, but you quickly walk beside him.

"You alright?" He asked, looking at you. You could feel your face burning up, and your chest felt tighter than usual. You licked your lips and turned your face away from him, nodding.

"Yep." Your voice sounded an octave higher. You cough. "I-Its… um. A lovely night for an evening." You say, noting that the sky was starting to get darker. Then you realized what you said.

Sans was laughing, and you felt even more flustered than before. "Yeah -pfft- it is." He continued laughing a little, and you couldn't help but laugh a little as well. After a while of walking, you adjusted your grip on the hand of the skeleton, getting used to the whole 'no skin or muscles' thing, and found his hand surprisingly comfortable to hold. Your face was no longer burning (well… as much), and you noticed that the two of you were headed uphill. The picnic groups were far behind you by now, just a busy sound in the background.

"Where are we going?" You asked, not expecting to wander so far from everyone else.

"You'll see." He said with a smile. The shadows were getting long, and you look up to the sky to see the sun almost ready to set. Sans changed direction, and you two left the trees. There was a solid stone structure in the small clearing, looking like some sort of opening to underground. You realized that's exactly what it was.

"Whoa… No way. Is this the entrance?" You ask, stepping onto the stone walkway and looking down into the darkness. Warm gusts of wind blew at your face, surprising you.

"Heh yeah, though we tend to refer to it as the exit." Sans said, letting go of your hand and pulling out a blanket from somewhere, laying it on the dirt beside the stone platform. You nodded, understanding that there was quite a difference between the perspectives of this opening.

"I'm surprised that this isn't littered by tourists, I thought they had all these tours going on for the underground now." You wondered, noticing not a single piece of litter anywhere near the entrance.

"They do, but this area is technically under our King's control, so he says when visitors can and cannot come. Human companies had agreed and take care of the area, knowing it's important to Monsters." Sans explained, sitting on the blanket. He waited a bit, allowing you to look in the darkness for a bit before patting the spot beside him to get your attention. You stop your wondering at what the underground looked like, and crossed your legs on the blanket, leaning back on your hands. The sunset was starting, and man it was _beautiful_. There were hardly any clouds in the sky, but the way it outlined the city and mountain it cast shadows all along the ground… You didn't notice when Sans rested his hand on top of yours until the sun was almost gone.

You blink, suddenly realizing how much time passed from just silently watching the sunset. "Whoa." You finally break the silence, causing Sans to laugh a little.

"Yeah." He agreed, and you two continued watching in silence until the sun finally vanished. Because of the lack of clouds, the world seemed much darker much faster; almost feeling plunged into the night. You were finally free of the sun's hypnotic magic, and you lay back on the blanket. Sans laid back as well, looking up to the empty sky with you. Soon enough, stars started to appear, and you felt yourself gasp when entire clusters became visible. You could see the Milky Way for the first time in your life, no longer blocked out from the light pollution from the city.

"There are over three hundred _billion_ stars out there." Sans said quietly, rubbing the back of your hand with his thumb. You turned and looked at him, seeing his eyelights trail around the stars of the Milky Way, trying to take everything in. "Hundreds of billions of suns for billions of planets, millions of planets that could potentially have life on them…" He sounded so enraptured when he talked about space; it was like everything else just faded away. He turned to you, eyes holding the same awe as they were when he was looking at the stars.

"And I happen to be on the one with you on it." He finished. You felt your eyes widen and breath catch, not expecting that. Sans looked in your eyes a bit, slowly smiling and looking down to your hands. He had his thumb pressed on the inside of your palm, you realize. "You are doing that thing again…" He smiled and brought your hand to his face, pressing it against his cheek and closing his eyes.

"T-thing?" You ask, unsure what he meant, but you didn't move. He looked so at peace listening to your hand.

"The… pulsing, thing. I heard it last night too…" He tapped on the back of your hand. Tap… ta-tap…ta-tap… You recognized it.

"My heartbeat?" You asked. You vaguely remember how monsters don't have internal organs; rather they are just pure magic entwined with their soul. You smile a little, thinking how weird a heart must seem to monsters. Especially to a skeleton.

"Hmm…" He mumbled, nodding slightly. You had an idea, and before you could talk yourself out of it you gently removed your hand from his face. He opened his eyes as you grabbed his shoulders, curious what you were doing. You quietly pull and roll him on top of you, his head resting on your chest. "What are you-" You cut off his question by holding a hand to the back of his head.

He was silent for a second, jumping slightly when he heard your heart beat. He pressed the side of his skull in to your chest slightly, listening intently. "…Wow. Humans are weird." He laughed, breaking the moment slightly. You laugh with him.

"Ha, yeah I suppose I am." Sans got comfortable on top of you, closing his eyes. "…Sans?" You asked after a long quiet moment. Sans hummed quietly. "…What are we?" The words left your mouth before you could stop them. Sans froze, slowly getting to his elbows and looking at you.

"What do you mean?" He asked. You couldn't read his expression in the darkness.

"I-I mean… What _are_ we?" You asked again, slightly more defined as a question. "W-we are holding hands, and going to places together, and… _this_ ," You vaguely motion to your current position. You swallow. "I'd think we are dating, but you are a monster and I'm not sure if that's like… a thing with you guys, and there was Toriel and how you looked at her, and..." You were stumbling over words trying to think and speak at the same time.

He rested his chin on your chest, keeping his eyes on yours. "We're whatever you want us to be." He said. You felt your heart skip a beat.

"What about you and Toriel? You two seemed like…"

"Good friends. That's it. We've known each other for a long time, but we've only ever had puns to build from. We've tried a relationship before, it didn't last long." He clarified, making sure you were looking in his eyes and saw it was the truth. You nodded, heart slowing from the racing beat as some relief lifted from your chest. Sans relaxed, resting his head on your chest again. "So… What are we?" He asked you.

You thought a moment, unsure. The word 'dating' always scared you, it made everything just a little too real or serious... Like it was something to tie someone down, and that's the last thing you wanted for Sans. You lick your lips. "I… don't know?"

Sans laughed, getting comfortable again. "Sounds good. We'll figure it out later."

It sounded like a plan, and you relaxed. You looked up to the stars, looking for any constellations you could recognize. You were able to guess two of them before you started just making others up, slowly falling asleep in the process.

.

You wake up cold, and you realize you don't feel Sans laying on you any more. You quickly sit up and look around, startled by how dark it was. The moon was shining brightly through a gap between thick clouds, but the harsh light only set you more on edge. "Sans?" You ask quietly, straining to look around in the darkness. You stand up and grab the blanket from the ground, holding onto it tightly and trying to warm up from the cold air.

"Sans?" You call louder. He wouldn't leave you alone… especially not around someplace you didn't know. He was just getting something, yeah, that's it. Or maybe he needed to take a call. You hear leaves crinkling near you and you panic, turning to the sound. "S-Sans?" You whisper, heart beating faster than what was healthy.

"Howdy! What is someone like you doing all alone out here?" You look down and see a little golden flower smiling up at you.


	13. Flower Day

The flower smiled up at you in silence for a while, before awkwardly glancing to the side and trying again. "Uh, I said what is-ACK!"

Your foot flew out before you realized what you were doing, punting the flower in the face as you screamed. Your leg hung in the air for a moment as you looked at the flower that was lying on the ground.

"THAT WAS A MISTAKE, N." The flower turned to you and pulled itself up, face warping from the happy face to something with a crude smile and dark eyes. You shrieked, backing up too fast and tripping over the tail of the blanket. You land on the ground hard on your rear, and heard a voice call in the distance.

"Sorry human, I didn't mean to yell." The flower was suddenly inches to the right of you, smiling with a classic emoticon-like face, plus a bruise on its left cheek. You yelp and crawl backwards a bit, watching the flower carefully. "Hey, hey there, its okay! I don't want to hurt you." It talked lightly and slowly, trying to calm you down. It looked like it meant it with a concerned expression in its eyes as it looked at you. You took a breath and tried to slow your racing heart.

"Are you… a monster?" You asked, feeling dumb for needing to. You saw a lot of monsters today, but none of them looked like a… flower.

"You could say that! Here, let's try this again. Howdy! I'm Flowey the flower!" The flower winked at you and stuck a tongue out, and you realized his voice was that of a child's, if a bit layered over itself. It would have set you more on edge if it didn't belong to this small flower. You still didn't feel completely comfortable around him, but you remembered that Sans said the monsters at the picnic were harmless and just wanting to catch up with everyone. You took a breath, and introduced yourself to the flower.

"It is so good to meet you!" Flowey gave you a happy smile, and you relaxed a little. "So what is someone like you doing all alone out here?" He asked again, tilting his head. The petals around his head flopped with him, seeming heavier than the average flower petal you noticed.

"I'm not alone. I'm just… waiting for a friend." You clarify, adjusting your sitting position to be slightly more comfortable. Flowey thought a moment before jumping, as if remembering something.

"I don't suppose that friend of yours is a skeleton in a blue jacket?" He asked, you were shocked he knew that.

"Uh, yeah. He is."

"I saw him underground before I came up here! I thought it was strange to see someone wandering around down there so late."

"Underground?" You asked, uncertainty weighing in your gut. Sans wouldn't leave for under there without you… then again, it might be dangerous for humans. Maybe he wanted to clear the danger out of the way so he could bring you down there, you thought hopefully. Flowey nodded, ducking down in the ground and reappearing close to the opening.

"Yep! He looked like he was looking for something, but I didn't want to bother him. I can take you to where I last saw him if you'd like." He smiled up at you, and you nodded, starting to be okay with this flower.

"That would be great, thank you." You stood up and walked over to the opening, feeling the heat rush at you. Figuring you wouldn't need to worry about getting cold underground, you dropped the blanket by the opening and stepped down the dark stairs carefully. Your hand trailed across the rough stone as Flowey vanished underground, appearing in a crack in the stone ahead of you.

"Just this way!" He said, and continued to duck down and appear in cracks, leading you further in. The heat of the underground was incredibly comforting, and you felt yourself relaxing more than you normally would have following a stranger down a dark cave. Your head felt… fuzzy. After some walking, you entered a large room where the moon shone through holes above, lighting up a floor full of flowers surrounding a throne. Flowey appeared in the middle of the room, looking around. "How strange… He was last here when I saw him… He might be further in, but it gets dangerous for humans further down." Flowey said, seeming concerned.

"Well, we can wait for him here then. I don't think he would leave me alone for too long." You said, and Flowey smiled happily, seeming excited to spend more time with you. You smiled, enjoying seeing how happy the flower could get.

"Sure we can! Sit down, the flowers are very comfortable!" He said, waving you over with a leaf. You look around the flowers to make sure none of the others had a face, before carefully sitting down in front of the throne. He was right, the flowers _were_ really comfortable, you noticed as they almost embraced you. They were bigger than you'd think, and you were thankful you didn't have anything loose in your pockets to loose under them. Flowey smiled up at you, waving side to side. The fact that he was alive-alive… well… You leaned forward and looked closer at the flower, and he smiled nervously. "Whatcha looking at, friend?"

"You." You say, slowly reaching out and poking one of his petals, hoping he wouldn't mind. He giggled and wiggled his petals, a vine breaking out of the ground and loosely wrapping around your hand, startling you.

"Hehehehe that tickles!" Flowey slowed his giggling and looked at you innocently, seeing your reaction to his vine. He smiled, pulling himself up out of the dirt and wrapping his vine further down your arm.

"Oh! Careful, my arm isn't the best right now," you quickly say, bringing your other hand to protect where you stitches are. He nodded, avoiding that area and trailing up almost to your shoulder before stopping. You raised your arm, seeing him coiled around you loosely and happy that you weren't freaking out. "Heh… You are like a snake." You say, tickling his petal again. He giggled and tightened his grip on your arm out of reflex, causing you to bite your lip.

"Hehehe stop that! I can't be careful if you keep ticking me!" He said, vine suddenly gripping hard and causing you to gasp. "Oops, sorry!" He smiled, loosening again. The warm haze in your mind lifts slightly, and you realize that you are allowing a monster you just met to climb on one of your more vulnerable areas. If he was dangerous… well, thank goodness he wasn't.

Feeling the overwhelming sense of contentment wash over you from the heat and friendly company, you lean back and rest against the throne. "So… What's your story Flowey?" You ask, holding your arms out like you would for Samus, and Flowey seemed to get the idea and started creeping across your arms.

"My story? Oh, I'm afraid I am not that interesting! I'm just a flower that was left underground when everyone else escaped to the surface." He said with a smile, and you felt a sad for the poor plant.

"So… All these months you've been alone?" You asked. He nodded, coiling around one of your hands. "I'm sorry to hear that… Most of the monsters moved into the city, you could probably go there too. There are a few parks there with flowers, you could blend in if you wanted." You said, and it looked like the thought never occurred to him.

"Oh no, I don't think-" Someone down the hall you entered in shouted your name, cutting off whatever Flowey was going to say.

"Get away from that _weed_." You hear the low voice growl, and you turned to see Sans charging at you with a glowing blue eye. A blue aura appeared around Flowey, and he suddenly lurched in your hands, causing you to be pulled forward and drag across the ground slightly.

"Sans? What are you doing?" You yelp, picking yourself off of the ground. Flowey's face distorted into an ugly grin and his grip on you tightened. "Owowowow Flowey stop that!" You slap at Flowey's vines, not wanting to hurt him but needing him to stop.

"Hehehe, YO T." The layering in Flowey's voice thickened, "TRYING TO ATTACK ME WITH THEM IN THE WAY? YOU REALLY ARE COLD HEARTED." Flowey's vines grew down your arm, tightening and causing you to scream from the pain. No longer worried about hurting your new "friend," you grabbed at his head and pulled, managing to loosen his grip. Sans looked horrified, but his gaze grew cold as he said your name.

"…I'm sorry." The blue in his eye flared, and the aura around Flowey tightened, pulling you up into the air by your arm. The pain was excruciating, but you bit your free fist to stop your screams. You dangled side to side, before Flowey's grip on you loosened enough and you fell towards the ground. Sans tossed the flower and reached out to you, the blue aura catching you last second before slowly putting you down.

"Are you okay?" Sans asked running up to your side. You nodded, lying with tears threatening the edges of your eyes, and looked to where Flowey was thrown. "Shit." Sans looked to where you looked, seeing a small hole in the ground. You felt like your chest was too tight, like you couldn't catch your breath, and your heart pounded. There was a slight popping sound that filled the air, and suddenly there was a glowing red heart in front of your chest, pulsing to your heartbeat.

"W…What?" You asked short of breath, looking down at it. It wasn't a real heart, one accurate to the one in your chest, but rather one that you used to draw in middle school. It had a soft glow to it, and felt… important to you. Like you needed to protect it. Your hands came up and carefully gripped it, and you gasped when you felt like something was grabbing you.

"Nononono…" Sans whispered, seeing the floating heart. He looked around the room, spotting Flowey by the doorway. You looked up as well, seeing the cruel smile on the flower's face. White small ovals appeared in the air, spinning. They suddenly moved and surrounded you, Freezing with their edges pointed at you.

"Sans?" You looked over to where he was, but only saw empty space. Both of your hearts sank.

"HE BETRAYED YOU, JUST LIKE HE BETRAYS EVERYONE." Flowey laughed, and the spinning bullets rushed at you. You grabbed the floating heart and ducked, hiding it from the bullets. A few of the bullets stung against your back, causing you to yell out. A deafening sound of a light beam drowned out your scream, and you looked up to see a massive goat skull in the room, Sans panting near the burnt crater that was left where Flowey was.

He stood there for a moment, catching his breath and wiping off the sweat from his skull, before he looked at you with his orange-tinted blue eye. The goat skull vanished along with his colored eye, and he rushed towards you. "Nonono… are you okay?" He knelt down by you, and you slowly sat up to meet him. You swallowed, feeling dizzy and confused about everything that just happened. Sans looked down at your floating heart, eyes widening. "Shit."

You looked down, seeing white bruises all along the red heart. You hurt all over… There is no way that was just from those tiny pellets. You shook your head, trying to clear your confusion. "I'm so, so _sorry_." Sans said, voice strained. "I would have protected you better, but I only have one..." He shook his head and brought his hands to yours. "Come on… let's… get this back in you."

You looked at him confused, but you couldn't find the energy to question him. He pushed your hands, and in turn pushing the floating heart, back into your chest. You gasped, suddenly able to feel your hands and see brighter colors you didn't notice you couldn't earlier. You looked at your shaking hands, trying to comprehend what they were just holding. "W-what… was that?" You asked, suddenly very, very scared of what happened.

"That… was your soul. I guess you never actually got in a fight before…" Sans's voice trailed off, bringing his hands to your shoulders. "Look, it's going to be okay. Lets get you home, and find you some food." He saw you still staring at your hands, and slowly used a finger and thumb to lift your chin to look at him. "Okay? Let's get you home."

You nodded, still rather confused on your… _soul_.

.

Sans led you out of the underground, arm never leaving your side incase you stumbled. Apparently monsters could see a lot better in the dark than humans, you noticed, since you nearly walked into a wall more than a couple times. When you got to the exit, you saw the blanket thrown to the side, not where you left it. Sans saw you looking at it.

"Thank you for leaving that by the entrance, by the way. I heard you scream and by the time I made it back here, I only saw some sort of struggle left in the dirt." He looked down to the ground where you remember you backing away from the flower. "I… was afraid something happened. Like, really afraid. What were you doing with that flower?" He asked. He didn't sound accusing, thankfully, but quite troubled at the thought.

"He… he said he was taking me to you. That you were underground, looking for something. I thought I was supposed to trust him, since you said the monsters here were harmless…" You saw Sans flinch at that.

"Flowey isn't… he isn't a monster, like me or Papyrus or the others... He's something else entirely, but not to be trusted by any means." He stopped walking and turned towards you. "He lies, and manipulates anything he can get to get more power over you. He is stronger than you think… Don't let his look fool you. If you ever see him again, just _run_." Sans lightly grabbed the sides of your arms, looking into your eyes full of fear. That look scared you. "Promise me that."

"Okay." You nodded, trying to understand how someone as powerful as Sans could have so much fear of a little flower. You didn't need to understand in order to agree. "I promise."

Sans's shoulders relaxed, eyes loosing some of the fear they were holding. "Thank you." He turned and started leading you back down the hill, and you noticed a plate full of hotdogs and marshmallows upside down on the ground.

"Were those for us?" You asked. Sans looked at the plate with some regret.

"…Yeah. I woke up and was feeling hungry, but you looked like you were having a good dream… I meant to be there and back before you could wake up, but obviously that didn't happen." He said guiltily.

You give him a half hug to stop that look. "Hey, its not your fault I have weird sleep cycles." He nodded, but you could see he wasn't fully convinced.

.

The two of you found the tent that Sans's friends were spending the night in, luckily everyone was still awake and enjoying smores, so there were no awkward wake ups. You were starting to feel tired again, so Sans did most of the talking. Mettaton looked like he was about to complain about leaving early, but one look at you and he pulled out his car keys. Apparently you had grass stains all along your shirt, though you haven't noticed. Mettaton said he would come back for the others in the morning.

The ride home was uneventful. It was cold, dark, and empty on the road, but you weren't able to look at the time. You were almost falling asleep in the car, head bobbing only to jerk up and pretend to be awake. Normally you would have no problem falling asleep in the car, but it was rather cold and you couldn't stop your shivering. Sans noticed, and unzipped his jacket.

"Here, it's a long ride. Get comfortable." He held out his arms and angled his body, and you accepted the offer. You slipped your arms between him and his jacket, pressing your face against his ribcage. His warmth continued to surprise you, but you weren't about to question it. You were partially lying across the backseats, Sans leaning against the door, and you felt rather comfortable for being in such a lazy position.

.

When you next woke up, you were in bed on your side. Ribs were pressed against your back and boney arms wrapped around your chest and stomach. Sans was snoring gently into the back of your neck, fingers occasionally twitching and tightening around you protectively.

For the first time waking up with the skeleton, you didn't panic about what he would think. You smiled and closed your eyes, enjoying the protective feeling of having the short skeleton curled around you. He may not have taken the hit for you, but you trusted him with your life. And.. soul, apparently. The concept still confused you, but you figured you'd have to ask him more about it in the morning.

But there was something you had to tell him that could not wait until morning.

Your eyes snapped open and you sat up. Sans startled awake, frantically looking around to see what was going on. "Whats? Whats wrong?" He asked eyes not fully open yet.

" _Sans_." You stress his name, putting your hands to the sides of his face. He blinked and tried focusing on you, taking a couple moments. "I know what I am to you."

That got his attention. "Wh-… What?"

"Sans, I'm your… _verte-bae_."

He stared at you for a moment, blinking, before completely loosing it. "Sans, Sans this is important." You started laughing too, amused at how he grabbed at his ribcage and tears were already building at the corners of his eyes. "Please. Sans, we are _verte-baes_."

He couldn't handle it. Sans started crying he was laughing so hard, rolling over slightly to try and control it. He rolled too far and fell off of the bed, but that didn't even phase his laughing.

"Fuckin' _verte-bae_." You heard him gasp between his laughs, clearly loving the new term. You smile at your success.


	14. Sick Day

You don't remember going back to the underground, but here you were. You were standing in a long open hallway, a harsh gold light streaming from stained glass to the left of you, which made the columns lining the walkway even more menacing looking."…Sans?" You asked, surprised when you heard your voice echo back almost as strong as your own voice. It sounded… wrong. You looked around, trying to remember what was going on.

You noticed a knife in your hands.

It was a simple one, like a large kitchen knife, and it was clean. Your arm however, was grey with dust. "W-what?" You looked at your shirt, seeing a blue-purple striped pattern stained dusty grey. You had a very bad feeling in your stomach.

"Already back, eh? Let's just get to the point." You look up and see Sans glaring at you from down the hall. That expression… He looked nothing like the Sans you knew.

"Sans?" You were confused… what was going on? "Sans, what-" Before you could ask him, your chest felt too tight and pulled you slightly forward. There was a slight popping sound, and when you blinked you saw the glowing heart floating in front of your chest.

You drop the knife and instinctively reach out to grab it, but before you could it turned dark blue. "Huh?" Sans raised his hand and your soul flew up, you along with it. You shrieked, before being slammed down onto the ground. You lost your breath from the force, causing you to cough and bring yourself to your hands and knees, only to be met with bones bursting from the ground and smashing into you.

You screamed and curled around your soul, trying to protect it from all the bones flying at you. It didn't work, and you were knocked further back down the hall. A humming filled the air causing your hair to stand on edge. "Oh no-" You looked up to see a giant floating goat skull in your face, light building in its mouth. "Sans wait-!" You shouted in time for the beam to fire.

The pain was incomparable. It felt like being burned from the inside out, along with being electrocuted just for good measure. You were thrown back by the blast, your head cracking against the stone wall. The world felt like it was spinning around you, and you found it hard to get your thoughts together.

One thought you manage to gather was the shock of still being alive. You opened your eyes, seeing the glowing heart weakly floating in front of you. It looked like it was full of white bruises and burns; only the smallest bit of red was remaining in it.

Sans scowled looking at you from down the hall, a hint of confusion crossing his features when he looked at the knife on the ground. "What? Is this some kind of joke?" He stepped closer, and you felt a your head screaming for you to run, but you couldn't move. "Are you finally giving up? After this many tries?"

You strained to move, but when you looked down you saw thick green vines winding around your arms and legs, and felt something crawling on your back. "Look, he can't even save you fro f." Flowey's voice whispered in your ear, vines tightening around your limbs painfully.

" _Good_." Sans growled, snapping his fingers. Two of the goat skulls appeared, and blasted you into nothingness.

.

You startle awake in your bed, breathing hard and sweating bullets. Your arms tighten instinctively, and you were surprised when there was actually something between them. You blink your eyes into focus, and find that you were curled around Sans. He grumbled slightly, stretching despite not having muscles to stretch out.

He was smiling when he turned over to face you, but it quickly dropped when he saw your expression. "Hey… Are you okay?"

You felt yourself shaking, your skin still hurting from the dream. You nodded, sniffing slightly. You were okay. You were fine. Sans looked like he didn't believe you, and you tuck your face into his back, holding him tighter.

"You want to talk about it?" He asked, rubbing your arm and trying to sooth you. You take a few shaky breaths and sniffle, but you don't cry, and eventually mumbling a response.

"… Can you teach me how to fight?" You swallow thickly. You feel Sans stiffen in your grip.

"That's what your dream was about? I… I cant show you how to fight," you felt his head shake, "but Bro and I can teach you how to dodge."

You gave him a squeeze. "That would be nice. Thank you." You felt him shift in your arms and a hand was rubbing your head, instantly relaxing your nerves.

"Was it Flowey?" He asked, and you felt yourself hesitate. You bite your lip a little before nodding. "… You don't have to be afraid, you know. I'll do everything I can so you never have to be in another fight. A real one, I mean." He corrected himself, since he just promised to help you.

The two of you stayed in bed for a while, long enough for all of your nerves to run their course and let the dream fade a bit. Sans continued to rub your head, trying to comfort you without breaking your thoughts. You were still sniffling, to your annoyance. You didn't even cry, far as you knew, so why was your nose running? "Fuck." You utter, realizing what was wrong.

"What?"

"I think I might be sick…" You sniffle, definitely feeling the back of your throat feel gross. The slight ache from your side wasn't helping either.

"That's not good." Sans looked concerned, and you laughed.

"I'll be fine, this sickness was trying to get to me all of last week. It will probably pass." You hope. Being sick sucked, and you never took care of yourself properly when you were. Then again, you couldn't think of the last time you were sick.

You finally unwrapped your arms from Sans and stretched, hearing your shoulders pop. Sans flinched, quickly looking away and turning a bright blue.

"Oh man, sorry, I keep forgetting not to do that." You awkwardly get up and start digging through your dresser for clothes, figuring you spent enough time in bed.

"No its-" His voice cracked, and he grunted to clear his… wait what the fuck was he clearing? "It's fine, do what you have to do, heheh…" He rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously, trying to play off how uncomfortable he looked. "I'll let you change." Sans got up and left the room, closing the door behind him.

You picked out a short-sleeved shirt and some pants, and started pulling your clothes from yesterday off. Man, they really were stained. You assumed Mettaton was just overreacting when he said that earlier. You slipped your pants and shirt on, and noticed your arms. "... That doesn't look right." You look at your stitches closer, completely confused.

They looked mostly healed.

You grabbed the self-care sheets the nurse gave you from the top of your dresser, quickly scanning them for the second time ever. These cuts needed around two weeks in order to heal… not a few days. Granted, they didn't look 'great', but you made a tight fist and you only had the barest hints of any pain from your arms. You sat on the bed and traced your fingers along the stitches, trailing them up until almost reaching your wrist.

There was a knock at the door. "Hold on!" You scramble and grab the closest clothing to cover your arms. Sans's jacket. Too panicky to bother looking for something else, you slip it on and zip it up. "Okay." Sans cracked open the door, peaking in before opening it fully.

"Hey I just forgot my-" He saw you wearing the blue jacket. He paused, before smiling and leaning against the doorframe. "Oh, I see how it is. First day of being verte-baes and you already steal my shit." You feel heat rise to your face and you turn away, trying to play it off.

"Yeah well, I… -cough-uh… um." You got nothing. Sans couldn't hold back his laughter.

"Yes, you 'uh', have my jacket." He snickered. "I'm cool with that though. It looks good on you." You felt an even stronger blush make its way to your cheeks. "Come on, Mettaton already brought Papyrus home this morning, turns out he has a surprise for you." You felt confused, but stood up to follow Sans.

Apparently you stood up too fast, and the world rotated slightly around you. "Whoa… You okay there?" Sans was suddenly beside you, holding onto your elbow. You took a moment to adjust, trying to figure out exactly how sick you were so far this morning. You were always a terrible judge.

"I'm… I'm good." You sniff, and take a few steps forward. Sans stayed by your side as you made your way through the hall, before you suddenly stopped. "…" You swallow, waiting a moment. "I lied." You turn around and run to the bathroom, managing to lift the lid of the toilet before coughing up your mostly empty stomach.

"What- I… What do I do? Should I call for help?" Sans asked for the doorway, you glanced over and saw him looking terrified. You laughed, and immediately regretted it, coughing into the toilet again.

"N-no… I just need a mome-" Your explanation needed to wait for a second. Ugh, wow. This sickness hit you like a truck, it felt like it came out of nowhere. Not to mention your side wouldn't stop hurting now, it felt like it had a thorn stuck in it. "Water?" You whispered, trying not to move your throat too much. You closed your eyes for a moment, trying to let the queasy feeling to go away. When you opened your eyes you saw Sans kneeling next to you, holding a glass of water nervously.

"Thank you." You smile, taking the glass and slowly sipping on it. The nauseous feeling slowly faded, thankfully, and you sat back. "Ugh. Well, this is great." You laugh quietly to yourself, but you could see Sans was anxious. "Hey, it's okay. This kind of thing happens all the time." You remembered Sans said monsters don't usually get sick, so this entire day is probably going to be hell for the two of you.

"Do you need a doctor?" Sans asked, looking ready to grab his phone. You shook your head, adjusting how you were sitting on your knees.

"Nah, this isn't that bad." You weren't lying. The throw-up part felt like it was already over with, but you were taking it slow anyway. This felt really… different for a sickness. Not the usual flu, at least. "I just need a few days, then I should be good." You sip more on the water slowly.

"Should I help you to bed?"

"Ugh, no. I hate sleeping off sickness, I feel so useless." You saw Sans shift his weight at the comment.

"Then… what do we do?" You were right, Sans must not have experienced anyone getting sick, at least not a human. You wondered what monsters are like when they are sick.

"TVs and ice cream." You say, well aware that you were falling into your old habit of not caring for yourself. You adjust your legs and carefully pull yourself up, taking a moment to make sure you weren't going to throw up again. You didn't, thankfully, so you flushed the toilet and grabbed the mostly-empty garbage bin. "Come on, help me to the living room." You give a half smile to Sans, who attempted to return one before placing a hand on your arm. You felt a strong shiver travel through your body causing you to gasp, and when you blinked you were in the living room.

"H-heh... That was different that bef-" You knelt over the garbage bin and coughed.

"Shit, sorry. I didn't want you moving too much, I forgot you weren't used to it." Sans quickly apologized, kneeling down and putting a hand to your shoulder.

"I-its okay. J-just some warning would be nice, yeah?" You nod and smile, glad Sans's anxieties actually helped distract you from the sickness. If you were going through this alone you would have hated every second of it. At least now you could have help with hating it. You turned to look for how far your couch was, and noticed something new about your living room.

"Sans?"

"Yeah?"

"…Why are there bones duct-taped onto my window?" You stared at the long white bones stacked over the area where your window was, the silver tape lining the edges of them and keeping them on the wall. There must be another layer of bones on the other side, because they actually did a good job of keeping out the sound and air from outside.

"Papyrus noticed your window was still broken, so he decided to fix it." He explained, and you couldn't help but laugh.

"He did a wonderful job and all, but I eventually have to get more glass." You sniffed a smile, slowly making your way to the couch and sitting back.

"Don't worry about it. I'll call someone since I'm the one that broke it." He sat on the couch next to you, and you let the silence go a little too long. "You okay?"

"Are we ever going to talk about… that?" You ask quietly, looking at Sans.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't see any need to talk about it. It's over with." He stated. You moved your sitting position so you could face him, letting him know you were serious.

"Yeah, but what _was_ that? You completely _changed_ , like that really shitty movie we watched with a werewolf. Your face looked like one of your… goat skull attacks."

"Gaster Blasters." He corrected you, before looking uncomfortable and paying attention to the rest of your question. "I… would rather not talk about that. It hurt, a lot, and I didn't enjoy it."

"And you think I did?"

"No- well, obviously not. But I just don't see the need to talk about it." He quickly said, looking away and grabbing the TV remote.

"But I do. What even caused that? Will you turn into that thing again if you get too angry?" You pictured Sans turning into his equivalent of 'the Hulk' in some situations, and it wasn't pretty.

"No, it's not an anger thing. It's a… tired thing." He swallowed, pausing a moment before turning to you. "Fine, I'll try explaining it, but I don't know if you'll understand." You nodded, allowing him to continue. "When a monster dies, their soul usually just turns to dust and absorbs into whatever it lands on. When a human dies, their soul… well, weird stuff can happen. Say a monster kills a human, they can absorb that soul and get even stronger. That's pretty much the same when humans kill monsters. Monsters cant get stronger from monster souls, humans cant get stronger with human souls, that sort of deal." You didn't know how this was building up to the Gaster Blaster monster Sans turned into, but you let him continue. "My brother ended up getting a human soul-"

"Papyrus killed someone?" You asked, unable to picture the goofy skeleton hurting anyone. Sans flinched.

"No… my other brother. Gaster." His eye flickered orange. You felt a chill up your spine when he said that, suddenly feeling a lot colder than before. You had no idea that Sans had another brother, but you nodded and let him continue, grabbing the blanket from the back of the couch.

"There was… an accident. Now I have part of his soul, along with the human soul he absorbed." He swallowed, and you could see him avoiding parts of the story. "The Gaster Blasters are his."

"I think I understand… but what happened to make you change?" You asked, wrapping yourself up in the blanket to try and get the stupid shiver away.

"Sometimes… I can hear Gaster." His hands went to his arms, and he avoided looking at you. "I just ignore him most of the time, but it gets hard to do when I'm tired. I never had that thing happen before though… I guess he got angry, or something. I don't know. Can we drop it now?" He asked, looking at you uncomfortably.

You nodded, leaning over and giving him a hug. "Yes. Thank you, Sans. Let me know next time something is up. I'll try my best to understand and help." He nodded, giving you a slight hug back.

"Come on, let's get you feeling better." He broke the hug and turned on the TV to the Mettaton channel. "I'll grab you something to eat." He left the couch and made his way to the kitchen, pulling out a paper bag from the fridge. The thought of eating something made your stomach lurch, and you quickly grab the garbage bin.

You didn't throw up, thankfully, but you had the annoying feeling in your side coming back. "Sorry… I don't think eating is a smart idea." You say quietly, watching Sans come back into the living room.

"Alright. I got some Muffet goods last night before we left the picnic, you don't need to eat them now, but try nibbling on them some time. I figured they would help out your soul." You blinked, confused.

"My soul?"

"Monster food has a lot more magic in it than human food made by monsters, and they heal damage faster than anything else." He explained, seeing your confusion. That might explain what was going on with your stitches, you thought. You wondered how your soul was looking now, with you sick.

"… Could I see it again?" You asked, surprising Sans.

"Your soul? Alright… Just be careful with it." He lifted an open hand towards you, turning it slowly around and into a fist. You felt a strain on your chest, and heard the pop sound as you were tugged forward. You looked down, and saw the glowing mostly-red heart floating in front of your chest again, only looking slightly different than before.

"That doesn't look right." Sans looked concerned, kneeling in front of you and looking at the heart. It was mostly red, except for a darker tone close to the side of it. You reach out and grab the heart, shivering when you felt like something big was grabbing onto you, and turned it around to look at it better. You heard Sans inhale, and you saw why. There was a tiny white oval jabbed into its side, so small it would have been hard to miss if it didn't contrast the dark red of your soul right now.

The red of your soul was dark all around the oval, and you looked at it closer. It wasn't quite an oval, you realized, since one side was sharp.

It looked like a seed.


	15. Weeding Day

Authors note: I apologize, but it may be a while till I will be able to update again, I do have a few more chapters stored up, but I want to be able to space them out until I will be able to write more. I am unfortunately having major living issues thanks to my ex, so I am struggling to find a place to live and attend Full Sail University right now. If you want to keep updated on my progress, I make posts on my tumblr, Madlyinlov3onda. And if you want to help me out, I would really appreciate if you "bought me a coffee," but there is no pressure if you cant. I really appreciate all of the messages I receive, so thank you for being fans and all of your support!

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"Is that…" You brought your soul closer, examining the small white seed that was jabbed into its side. You look up to see Sans silently shaking, the lights gone from his eye sockets. That look scared you. "Sans?" You ask quietly, wanting to know what was going on.

" _I'm going to kill that_ _weed_." He growled, hands turning into fists. He stood up and walked around the room, swiftly kicking the wall out of anger. He stood there for a moment, trying to take a few breaths to calm down. "I… I'm sorry. I didn't notice it before, underground." He apologized, still not looking at you. "This usually doesn't happen… I don't…" He grew quiet, trembling from his anger. Seeing him like this frightened you. Sans was so relaxed most of the time, seeing him suddenly explode at such a small thing… You looked closer at your soul.

"Should I…?" You asked, bringing a finger up to touch the seed.

"DON'T!" Sans turned and shouted too late. Your finger brushed the seed and you instantly dropped your soul, scrambling for the garbage bin just in time to throw up. _It hurt. A lot._

Sans was beside you, hand on your shoulder and saying something, but you couldn't hear him through the ringing in your ears. You sat shaking over the garbage bin for a while, trying to remember how to breathe properly and stop your shivering. The ringing faded slowly, and you spit the last of the gross out of your mouth.

"O-ow." You utter a half attempt of being humorous in this situation. "T-that… was a m-mistake." You stutter, regretting trying to speak so soon. You lungs felt like they were spasming.

"Yeah." You heard Sans beside you, vaguely aware that he was lightly rubbing your back. "Touching it isn't a good idea… but we need to get it out. I never seen anything stuck in a soul before, at least, not like this. I don't know what Flowey did." You look up to him, seeing worry eating away at him.

You swallow, trying to get the bad taste out of your mouth, and sit up. The soul floated up weakly, and you noticed that the area not darkened by the seed was a lighter red than it was yesterday. It didn't look healthy. "Do… do you think th-that dinosaur monster might have an i-idea?" You grit your teeth and take a breath, trying to stop your damn shaking. You saw that she wore a lab coat earlier, maybe she was some sort of doctor. You hoped she was. Sans looked confused for a moment.

"Alphys? I... She might." His eyes widened slightly, not thinking about that. "I'll give her a call. Just, stay here. If you think you can handle it, try eating a little of the spider goods. Eating is probably the last thing you are thinking about, but you need more magic in your system." He stood up, making sure you were steady enough to sit on your own. "I will be right back… don't touch anything." He swallowed, looking at you to make sure you wouldn't try anything. You nodded, sniffing slightly.

He grabbed his phone from his pocket and flipped it open, walking into the spare room to talk. The fact he thought he had to leave the room to talk about what was going on… it had you even more worried. You leaned back against the couch, taking slow breaths and closing your eyes. You sat there a bit, listening to the muffled voice of Sans filter through the wall. You could tell he was interrupting whoever was on the other side every other sentence. He started shouting, and you opened your eyes.

Sans rarely shouted, especially at his friends. You swallow thickly, bringing your knees to your chest and glaring down at your soul. "This is your fault." You whisper, lightly poking the heart. You sharply gasp, feeling like someone jabbed one of your sides. You grasp the heart out of the air, trying to get used to the whole feeling thing going on. It was weird, needless to say, but at the same time it intrigued you. It was strange that you've never seen your own soul before… Sans said it was something about being in a fight.

What is classified as a fight in order to see your soul? You wondered. During your encounter with HP was pretty harsh, and you've threw a basket at the dude, and had a slight fist fight with someone forever ago, but you've never seen your soul until now. Maybe he meant a fight with a monster? Then when Sans had the Gaster Blaster skull you should have seen it. Maybe he meant some sort of formal fight involving magic? That seemed the most logical, but you wondered why monsters would bother with the soul if their attacks were so strong in the first place.

You trace a finger down the middle of the heart, feeling a shiver as something brushed down your back. Souls may be smaller targets… but it was clear that they were much more sensitive than a physical body. You wondered if monster souls were the same.

As you were zoning out, you were turning your soul over and looking over it all. Observing it closer, you noticed that the soul was very slightly transparent, like frosted glass that was glowing. The area around the seed was harder to see through, but you could see a single white root part way into your soul, and you suppressed a shiver thinking about it. You watched it closer, your face almost touching the Soul, and you swore you saw it move.

A door slammed, causing you to startle and drop the heart. Luckily it only dropped a couple inches before floating back to in front of your chest. Sans walked into the room, hand running over his skull as if he was running it through hair. He didn't look like he had good news.

"Sans?" You ask, coughing when your voice sounded funny. He glanced up to you, but quickly looked away and shook his head. "Alphys… doesn't know. She heard that attacks can sometimes get stuck in the soul, but a night's rest usually pushes them out, like a splinter. Nothing that was… potentially living." The last word looked like it tasted bad in his mouth. You tilted your head slightly, suddenly noticing that you were feeling weary. "She couldn't decide if it would be better to try and pull it out, or just wait it out. She has a theory that the Soul has its own immune system, but this thing could be acting like a virus. Far as we know it isn't actually doing anything, and your soul is just… bruised, or something. Unless there was something-"

"There is a root." You say quietly, looking down at the Soul. Sans stiffened in the corner of your eyes. You swallow. "I-I think… it's… growing." Sans rushed next to you, looking at the heart and trying to see it. The couch fabric sounded like it was straining under his grip. "Maybe you should just… yank it out?" You asked. He wasn't going to, you knew, but you had to suggest it anyway.

"Just touching the seed made you throw up, I can't imagine what trying to pull at it would do to you." Sans shook his head, though looking like he was considering it. "I don't think-"

"Sans! I have returned from the grocery store! I do not know why you wanted so many-" Papyrus loudly came in from outside holding a massive paper bag to his chest, stopping when he saw the two of you looking at your soul. "Human?"

"H-hey bro." Sans jumped, swallowing. His voice immediately was imitating his usual cool tone, if not a bit more shaky.

"Sans? What is wrong with the human?" Papyrus asked, confused. You didn't look at him. You instead closed your eyes, trying to get rid of that stupid drowsy feeling that was settling in your head.

"They… are very sick, bro. The fight yesterday hurt them more than I thought." He said. Your heart suddenly pounded, just once, before resuming as usual.

"That is not good, not good at all!" Papyrus rushed over to the couch, kneeling on the ground in front of you and putting the bag on the floor. You opened your eyes to see that he was looking at your Soul, confusion rising to his face. "This does not look like it should… What is this?" He reached out a gloved finger towards the seed.

"Don't touch it!" Both you and Sans quickly exclaimed at the same time. You grab your Soul away from Papyrus, bringing it to your chest to protect it better. Apparently you brought it too close, and it seeped back into your body. You shuttered and sighed, falling slightly forward as you noticed feeling coming back to your hands and feet, sounds becoming slightly sharper, and colors faintly more vibrant. Sans caught you with a hand to your shoulder, keeping you on the couch.

"Are you okay?" Papyrus asked, concerned. You nod weakly, feeling even more tired with your soul in your body.

"Just… getting used to having a Soul…" You quietly say with a shaky chuckle, smiling. "I'm sleepy…" You whispered, allowing your eyes to close again.

"Nonono, you need to stay awake until we figure out what to do about that seed." Sans gently spoke as he wiggled your shoulder, causing you to peak open an eyelid.

"Pleassseeeee?" You begged, shutting your eye again anyway. "You talk to others while I sleep… I'm not much good awake anyway." Why you were begging so much to sleep confused you, you were actually too scared to want to nap. You felt the prickly sensation travel up your limbs; sleep already tugging at you. Sans said something loudly, but when you opened your eyes to look at him, you were in a bed of golden flowers.

"Sans?" You asked, sitting up and looking around the dark cave walls. You heard giggling echo around you, and you felt your skin crawl. "Papyrus?" You carefully brought yourself up to your feet. "Anyone?" Your voice was quiet now. What was going on? Wait, this was just a dream. Duh.

"Howdy!" The familiar friendly voice greeted. You looked down and saw the smiling flower.

"Not _you_." You back up a couple steps, getting ready to run like Sans told you to. Flowey only smiled at you, looking surprisingly detailed for being a dream.

"Aw, that's not how to greet a friend." Flowey's body swayed happily. You tried to take another step back only to find your feet pinned to the ground, thick vines wrapping around them. You tugged at your legs, trying to get them free.

"This is just a dream. Just a dream. I'm going to wake up and-" You started talking to yourself, trying to calm down your racing heart. Flowey suddenly rose up from the ground, becoming taller and smiling down at you.

"You are such a t." He laughed, more vines crawling up your legs to your distress. "What makes you think this being a dream would be any better for you?" Flowey cackled, his face warping slightly. You froze. Any time you had a lucid dream, others in the dream denied it of being a dream. They tried to convince you otherwise every time. Flowey watched you, enjoying your reaction.

"What's wrong? Nothing to say to that?" He asked, humored with himself. His vines tightened painfully around your legs, causing you to yelp. It felt too real… No, this is just a bad dream. Sans will wake you up. You just had to-

"You know, I really did only want a friend. Being alone for so long can really put a downer on an eternal existence." Flowey laughed as you tried harder to pull free from the vines, feeling more crawling up your back. "But of course, that was before that lazy trash bag of bones ruined our play date. Shame you had to get in the middle of that. Maybe next time you'll be smart enough to keep him under _control_." A vine appeared out of nowhere, wrapping around your throat.

"P-please…" You claw at the vine around your throat and struggle to breathe, to the amusement of Flowey. He backed away from you, tilting his head with a dark and broken smile. You felt a tugging in your chest, and your soul popped out of your chest. You felt your eyes widen when you looked down to see it.

It was black. It looked like it was rotting from the inside out, thin vines breaking from various areas and wrapping tightly around it. "I see that you don't have much longer… See you real soon." Flowey cackled, snapping a large vine at your corrupted soul. There was a flash of white pain that flooded your body, and you screamed.

You heard someone repeating your name, shaking your shoulders. It was Sans, you recognize. You open your eyes, relieved to see your living room come into focus this time. Sans was standing over you, looking at you with fearful eyes. You swallow, feeling the soreness in your throat.

"Sans?" You ask, wincing when you heard your voice. It sounded rough, but also higher than usual. You felt your heart pounding heavily, and it didn't seem like it was stopping any time soon.

"Oh thank god, you woke up." Sans put his head down on your chest, relieved. Why did he seem so tired? You couldn't have been asleep for that long, the dream passed so quickly…

"What's…. What's going on?" You questioned, looking around the room and getting dizzy just from moving your eyes. Sans looked up at you concerned.

"You fell asleep, I couldn't wake you up. You've been out for hours, but you started screaming and I didn't know what to do." His voice was strained, it hurt you seeing him so broken. You carefully pulled yourself up on the couch, attempting to sit up. Sans helped you, making sure you didn't look like you were going to throw up.

"Sans…" You whispered, pausing a moment and trying to swallow. Your heart wasn't stopping its pounding. "I need to see my Soul." You felt sick, and could throw up at any moment, but you needed to make sure that dream was just a dream.

"Are you sure? I don't think-" You looked at Sans sharply. You needed to see your Soul. He stopped talking and nodded, bringing a hand up and turning it around, pulling a fist towards him. Your chest felt tight before being relieved of your soul, which floated lower than usual in front of your chest.

It was much paler than before, at least, the half that wasn't dark. You could see a couple roots in the middle of it, and the seed looked like it was getting ready to sprout. You started laughing. You couldn't do anything else.

"Hehehe… This is just horrible, isn't it?" You felt tears already building and threatening the edges of your eyes, and you brought your hands to cover your face. "Heh, I mean, I only just learn about a soul, and look at it now. I can't even take care of it. Heheeehehe." You giggled into your hands, trying to override your crying.

Sans looked startled, jaw slightly open as he stared at your Soul. He swallowed, looking at you as you laughed to yourself. He was concerned about how you were responding about this situation, that much was clear, but he didn't know what to do. You thought back in your dream, noticing the similarities of both of your Souls. "Even Flowey said I don't have much time left, heheh…" Sans jumped when you giggled at that.

"Flowey… talked to you?" He asked, focusing on the seed in your Soul.

"Heh… Yep. He was in my dream, and he knew it was a dream. How weird, right? Hehe, like, it was as if he was really there, trying to choke the life out of me." You give a half laugh, half sob into your hands, suddenly aware of just how afraid you were. You didn't want to die. You had so much of your life left to live, and only just started your relationship with Sans, yet here you were, laughing about your upcoming death. Or worse.

"May… may I touch your Soul?" Sans asked quietly, asking as if it was the most personal favor to ask. You nod while keeping your face buried in your hands, not really caring about anything any more. You suddenly shiver as you felt a soft pressure surround your body, ever so slowly grabbing around you. You look up to see Sans handling your soul as if it was made of fragile glass. He turned it around, swallowing hard and being careful as he looked at everything.

"Tell me exactly what you are feeling." Sans insisted. You didn't see the point of this, but you nodded and tried to steady out your voice.

"Pressure all around me, that doesn't hurt. My side is… weird feeling. Like something is stuck in it, but also like it's getting scratched at." The more you focused on what you felt, the stronger that feeling seemed to be. "Hehe, honestly, I'm so scared, Sans." He looked at you, and you couldn't meet his eyes. "I-I mean, a soul is someone, right? I mean, it's literally them. If this happens to my soul, then it happens to me. What happens when the roots go too deep? What happens if that seed sprouts? Am I going to be popping daisies too?" Your loud laughs turned into sobs as you ducked your head in your arms. "The… the worst t-thing is though… I'm ready for this _. I'm not_. I am." You stumbled over your words, trying to think straight. "It's going to happen, Flowey knew it. I should just give up already, and stop dragging this out." You admitted out loud, though you didn't believe that. Why were you saying such things? You felt the pressure around your body tighten slightly.

" _Don't say that_." Sans clinched his teeth. "We'll figure this out, just wait. There has to be something…" His voice trailed off for a moment as if he thought of something. You slightly looked up at him, seeing him zoning off and looking at your soul.

"It's true though. I'm going to die, and the only people that are going to miss me are Papyrus and you." Your voice said without permission. Sans forcefully relaxed his grip around your Soul, trying not to crush it out of frustration.

"Stop it. We are going to get you good as new, like Flowey never happened." Sans insisted, and you wanted to believe him, you really did. Instead you shook your head in your arms, feeling as if all of your hope was getting ground under someone's heel. "Hey, look at me." You didn't. " _Hey_." He hissed, finally getting you to look up with a tilted head.

"Howdy." You sarcastically answer with another greeting, feeling an unwanted smile invade your lips. Sans backed up as if he was struck, eyes widening. The lights in his eyes faded into darkness, leaving only an eerie look left on his face. He looked down at your Soul.

"You suggested this earlier… I'm so sorry I didn't do this then." Sans whispered, shaking and bringing another hand over your Soul. A slight blue light wrapped around his hand, and you felt your body lock up when the aura enveloped the seed and roots. The laughing/sobbing fit you were in suddenly vanished, leaving you completely sober.

"Waitwaitwait Sans no-" You wanted to nod to him, or tell him to go ahead. Instead you found it hard to breathe, every shallow inhale was sending pain throughout your body. "I change my mind-" _No I don't._

"It's going to be okay." Sans whispered, and you could feel something in your body straining against his magic.

"No Sans please please don't do this-" You felt so afraid, so terrified, yet you wanted nothing more than for him to yank it out of your soul. Why couldn't you say that? Sans hesitated, looking up at you, and you felt your heart drop. _No no no Sans please rip it out of me._ You wanted to scream, but you only sat there, shaking in fear.

"I'm sorry." He breathed, and yanked the seed out of your soul.


	16. D-Day

I am so sorry to all of my readers out there for taking so long, my life has been a bit bumpy lately but hopefully I will be able to get back to normal soon. I also apologize for leaving you guys on a cliffhanger like that. Whoops.

If you guys want to help out my situation, I still have my "Buy me a coffee" button available here: /Buttons/Buy/23560P437E2P9

If you donate, send me a message with a request and I'll try my best to do it in a few chapters!

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When people said time slows down when something incredibly painful happens, you never expected it to be like this. You always assumed it would feel like the slow motion in movies, where sounds are dragged out and you would be able to see every detail crisp as the countless seconds ticked away. Instead, it looked as much as felt like everything was just jumping frames, like a lag in a videogame.

You reached out to stop Sans, watching as the seed and roots were yanked agonizingly from your soul frame by frame. The strange haze in your brain felt like it was being torn out from the side, leaving your head cold and on fire at the same time, and you collapsed onto the ground. There was a ringing in your ears that drowned out everything else, but your mouth was open and your chest felt tight. You were probably screaming, you realize slowly in your head.

The fact that none of the pain felt… direct, was weird. You were aware of something clawing at your insides as it was dragged out, but the pain felt as if it was filtered, coming a few moments too late. Not nearly as painful as you would have figured, but your body responded as if it was much, much worse. You were frantically grabbing at the air on your side, as if trying to gather whatever was feeling like it was being pulled out.

Suddenly, it was gone. You collapse on the ground, shivering and holding your side, ringing in your ears still overriding what you assume were your cries. You managed to open a wet eye to look at Sans, who was standing over you with your Soul still in his hand with a dark expression. Your eye trained on the Soul, and you couldn't stop staring at it as if your life depended on it.

It was white. The small soul in Sans grasp was almost solid white, with the barest hints of red fading from the side where the seed was. It was fading fast. The ringing in your ears vanished in a blink of an eye, and all of the sounds were too loud. You heard the floor creak under you, your cries piercing your eardrums, Sans saying something you couldn't focus on, and a door slamming behind you. You couldn't turn to see who it was; you were too concentrated on seeing the red leave your soul to dare glance away.

Just as quickly as you could hear, sounds started to fade like the color in the glowing heart. The edges of your vision trickled away as you saw Sans reach in front of him, a blue glowing heart appearing next to yours. Other pairs of hands reached for Sans, but darkness surrounded you, allowing you one last look at your pure white heart.

.

It was cold. You laid in the darkness, curled around yourself as you violently shivered. Is this what death was like? Nothing but coldness? You had assumed something… more. Sans said if a human died by the hands of a monster, their soul would be absorbed… Did that happen to you? You wondered who would actually absorb your soul, since Flowey was the one that hurt you, but Sans was the one with the soul in his hands. You hoped it was Sans that did, if it did happen. Flowey having your soul… you shivered at the thought, but continued shivering in the cold nothingness anyway.

A pulse of blue light traveled around the darkness, startling you. Sans was the one, then, you thought. It made sense. Sans was so close to your soul, if you did die it probably would have assumed he was the cause for it. If souls even think like that, that is. You felt as if a soul would have personality, then again, it's a literal embodiment of yourself. Man, souls were weird. Not that it really mattered, any more.

The quiet was deafening, and you hated it. You started thinking on things to do, since it looked like you were going to be here for… ever. If you were in Sans… then maybe you could talk to him like Gaster did. It seemed like a better idea than just shivering here in silence. You sat up in the nothingness, somewhat confused if you were actually sitting "up" or otherwise, and took an unneeded breath.

"Sans?" Your voice didn't echo like you expected, it was simply absorbed into the darkness. The darkness responded, another pulse of blue light rippling through the air. "Am… I dead?" You ask quietly, already knowing the answer. The blue light appeared, all the answer that you seemed like you were going to get. You brought your knees to your chest and wrapped your arms around yourself, still trying to warm up.

You didn't have a pulse.

The realization shouldn't have shocked you as much as it did, but you jumped when you noticed. You wrapped a hand around your throat, feeling for any sort of hint of life. Nothing. Dead people don't need heartbeats, duh. The thought still weighed heavy in your chest. So, this was it. You lived a boring life, made few friends, and died at the hands (vines?) of a flower. What a wonderful gravestone you'd get. If you'd even get a gravestone, that is. When monsters died, they only turned to ash, so who's going to be there to tell them the same isn't with humans? Well, by now they would have figured it out, but what would they do with your body? They don't know the number to call your parents, or your last roommate, or any human that you would know. Your parents would never find out what happened to you.

Your face was wet, you noticed. When you started crying, you didn't know, but apparently you were. "Sans… I'm scared." You cried into your hands, able to see the blue response anyway. It felt like it was harder to breathe, but you didn't pay it any mind. If you didn't need a heartbeat, you probably didn't need air either.

You arm started hurting, and you groaned and grabbed at it. It felt like liquid fire was burning it from the inside out. "Ffffuck stop that!" You yelp, putting pressure on it to try and dull the pain. The light gave its standard response to what you said, just a simple pulse of blue. You chest was feeling too tight, and you grumbled. "Come on, I'm already dead! Leave me alone!" The light flared brighter for a moment, before darkness welcomed you again. Apparently they listened, and your senses dulled once more. You felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment, and returned to your sobs once more.

A muffled voice pushed through the darkness, startling you out of your crying. "Sans?" The blue pulse answered, but the voice… no, voices were talking too far away for you to understand. You opened your mouth to speak, gasping as you felt like something kicked you in your chest. You brought your hands to your heart, eyes wide. It was a heartbeat, a single one. Your chest grew silent again, but you waited. You were dead, you accepted as much, but…

Another heartbeat pounded into your chest, startling you as much as the first one. This time, it was paired with the blue light and burning from your arm. You take shaky breaths, preparing for the next one. You waited, and waited, and waited… "Sans? What is-" You saw the light flash twice and your chest pounded, two heartbeats this time. You coughed, collapsing onto the ground. Your chest _hurt_. There was a slight pause, before the blue light flared and your chest kicked again, and again… It was almost a regular heartbeat, you realized. Everything was too hot all at once, and you started breaking into a sweat. Air was harder to come by, and you flinched every time your heart pounded. The light was flaring every second now, getting brighter until you felt blinded even with closed eyes. You couldn't take much more of this. Your chest was too tight, body too warm, light too bright… You needed to breathe.

You gasp cold air into your lungs, opening your eyes to your ceiling. You couldn't move, all of your nerves crashing against each other and you were just so _aware_ of everything yet unable to comprehend _anything_. You felt a throbbing… everywhere, to be honest, but your arm especially was burning up. Your chest felt as if it was bruised, and you could feel a pair of hands pressed against it. You blink and swallow, trying to slow down your nerves enough to make sense of anything. You lick your lips, noticing a vague taste of fish.

"They're… awake." A familiar female spoke, disbelief heavy in her voice. You slowly looked down, seeing Undyne looking up at you with her hands on your chest. Alphys sat on the other side, some sort of empty needle in her hand, close to your sore arm. They were staring at you as if you had two heads. You couldn't blame them, you were certain you were dead just a moment ago.

"I'm… alive?" You ask, unsure. Your voice was faint, weak, but the dinosaur monster nodded, looking relieved. She looked behind you, and you craned your neck to see where she was looking. Sans was collapsed against the wall behind you, head in his hands, Papyrus kneeling next to him with a hand resting on his back. Papyrus saw you and quickly shook Sans's shoulder, and he slowly looked up to meet your eyes.

Fresh tear trails lined the cheeks of his skull, his dull lights focusing on you for a moment before widening. There was absolute silence for a solid second. "It worked." He breathed, looking almost like he couldn't believe what happened. You were confused on what all happened as well, but before you could ask he scrambled next to you and was hugging you.

"Owowowowow…" You whisper, feeling pain jolting up from your arm. Sans quickly let go of the hug, but his hands found their way to the sides of your face. He couldn't stop looking at you, seeming afraid that you were just his imagination. You saw new tears building in the edges of his eye sockets, but he had a shaky smile growing on his face.

"I can't believe that worked… Sans, what were you thinking?" Alphys said, backing up to give the skeleton more room. You didn't pay attention to the others, only Sans. You could feel his hands shaking as he touched you, and you realized how scared _he_ was that you…

"Did… I die?" You ask, uncertain if you only assumed you died, or if something… else happened. Sans pressed his forehead against yours, closing his eyes.

"Don't think about it. You are okay now, that's all that matters." Sans gave a laugh of relief, still shaking. You heard Alphys shift her weight beside you, the needle bumping into other objects in a bag of a sort.

"Sans… You really shouldn't have done that. I understand why you did, but there was a high chance your Souls weren't compatible-"

"Then it's a good thing they were." Sans interrupted, seeming irritated that she tried giving him a lecture at this precious moment. You brought your hands to his shoulders, pushing him back slightly. He allowed it, opening his eyes to look at your puzzled face.

"Sans… What happened?" You asked carefully, seeing his smile drop slightly. You felt… good. Really good. Like someone who wasn't dead a few moments ago. The burning in your arm was only a dull warmth now, more evenly spread between your chest and arm. Sans looked for the right words.

"The weed took a lot out of your soul… I just… tried putting some back." He said like it was suppose to make sense. You didn't understand.

"Sans sent Papyrus to get us, and we arrived just in time. You should have enough extra Determination in you to last a while, but don't try pushing yourself. What Sans did… even most monsters don't attempt." Alphys looked at Sans with concern, and you could see Sans grinding his teeth.

"Yes, thank you, I am aware, _Al_." He snapped, clearly getting angry from the nagging. He paused, taking a breath and hugging you again, more gentle this time. "Sorry… I just didn't know what else to do."

"You could have waited until we got here, for starters. At least those lifeguard training sessions were handy!" Undyne gave a toothy smile, seeming less in shock about the entire situation. Huh, so that's why your chest hurt so bad… and the taste of fish was on your lips. You felt your face heat up slightly, but you just return the hug, happy to be alive. You blink, confused when you could feel him so clearly on your arms, and you noticed that you were no longer wearing his jacket. You swallowed your panic, hoping that Sans didn't notice them yet. Alphys sat beside you guys for a while, before slowly getting up and going to the wall, looking at the small dime-sized dent in it. She leaned down, grabbing the white seed with a pair of tweezers and dropping it in a glass tube.

"What are you doing?" Sans asked, breaking your hug. His voice was low, and you knew that didn't mean anything good. You put a hand on his arm, watching as he physically relaxed at your touch.

"I want to study it. I've never encountered anything that could live off of direct Soul energy before, not like this." She put a cap on the tube, looking at it closer. A blue aura appeared around it, yanking it slightly out of her hands. She flailed, managing to catch it before it shattered on the ground. " _Sans!_ "

"If you were smart, you'd destroy it." Sans's low voice almost threatened, not quite demanding but rather _strongly_ _suggesting_. Alphys shook her head, tucking the tube into her bag.

"I'll be sure to burn it once I am through with it, don't worry." Sans didn't look satisfied with that answer. "Until then, we'll let you guys have your moment. Keep in me in contact and let me know if anything goes wrong… Humans naturally have large amounts of Determination in them anyway, but I did use a lot. You should be fine." She gave a half-smile to you, seeming a little nervous. You nodded, trying to understand what she meant by 'Determination.' That was a feeling, not something physical… right?

Undyne and Alphys gathered their things, gave you a wave, and left without any more ceremony. It was quiet for a moment as you laid there, before you leapt up and tackled Sans with a hug, pressing your face onto his ribs.

"Thank you for saving me. That was… scary." You said, hugging him tighter. Your arm no longer hurt, so you had no reason not to. Sans laughed a little, bringing a hand to the top of your head and rubbing your hair.

"Yeah, for you and me both. I thought I lost you there for a while." He was quiet, and you looked up to see him watching you. Your heart skipped a beat, seeing how he was looking at you. You two didn't know each other for a terribly long time, but you could already see how much he cared. So much that he apparently did something dangerous even for monsters. You opened your mouth to ask exactly what he did, when you felt the both of you suddenly picked up.

"NYHOOHOHOOO! YOU TWO NEED TO STOP SCARING ME LIKE THIS!" Papyrus yelled, spinning the two of you around the room in a bear hug. You were incredibly thankful you were no longer dizzy, or feeling sick any more. You laugh, giving Papyrus's arm a pat. He flopped on the couch with you and Sans on his lap, still hugging around you. "No more scary adventures for you two!" He demanded, and you couldn't stop laughing.

"Deal." You say, pressing your forehead against Sans's, and Papyrus doing the same to the both of you. Sans looked happy, his tears were already dry and his eyes shining brighter than usual.

And so the three of you sat, cuddling until the sun went down, not that you could really notice with the bones blocking your window.


	17. Face Day

Thank you all so much for sticking with me dispite my uneven posting schedule. You guys deserve a happy chapter, so have some things that a bunch of Anons requested. Pretty shippy, lots of exploring the different faces. If you get squeamish about mouth exploration then just read until Reader is laying in bed with Sans and like, skip till the small paragraph that starts with "His teeth."

Reminder that I have a "coffee button" if you would like to help support Sans Days. ko-fi dot com /Buttons/Buy/23560P437E2P9

You cuddled with the skeleton brothers for a long time, daydreaming but never quite falling asleep, unlike them. After the orange glow from behind the bones of your window vanished into darkness, it was only a matter of time before the two of them started gently snoring. How they were actually able to sleep while mostly sitting amazed you, but you unfortunately couldn't join them. You weren't tired in the slightest. Nothing was troubling you, and you were actually really comfortable in this position, but you were wide-awake. You sit there for a long while, trying to drift your thoughts to ones of sleep, but your body wasn't having it.

Finally accepting you weren't going to get anywhere with this, you carefully slip out of Papyrus's and Sans's grip, silently standing and heading to the bathroom. You ran your tongue along the inside of your teeth, still tasting the bad in your mouth. Ugh, thank god you weren't sick any more. Sure, getting a seed ripped out of your soul sucked hardcore, but at least you didn't have to worry about throwing up any more. You go to the sink and chuckle to yourself, thinking about how you had your priorities ordered.

You look in the mirror and jumped, startling yourself with how… _good_ you looked. The dark circles under your eyes from before had vanished, your skin was bright with color, your eyes shined like you just had the best rest of your life. Your hair was even neater than you expected after everything that happened, but you ran a quick comb through it anyway. You looked closer at the mirror, angling your head this way and that to just take yourself in. Is this what that 'Determination' did? You could really use a few extra doses of that around your apartment for later.

After a moment of being awed at yourself, you remembered the main reason you came in here and started brushing your teeth. God, it felt good. You spat the foamy spit out and rinsed out your mouth, satisfied when your teeth felt smooth once again. Now that was taken out of the way… you didn't know what else to do. The brothers were sleeping, so you didn't want to make too much noise around the apartment. You could play with Samus, but she would be pretty active at this time and you weren't sure if you wanted to risk her slipping out your room.

You thought a bit, turning on the warm water and just letting it run over your hands, relaxing you more. Your attention turned to the stitches on your arms, and you smiled when you saw them even more healed. You could tell the scars weren't going to get much better, but at least you wouldn't have to worry about them hurting any more. You could probably cut the off stitches yourself tomorrow, it looked like. You probed them with a thumb, pressing and pulling at the sides and saw the pink scars already holding the sides together.

"That was me, wasn't it?"

You jumped when you heard a voice in the doorway, and saw Sans leaning against the doorframe and looking at the ground. He wore his usual plastered smile, though it looked not as big as it usually was, his eyes sad. "We talked about this-" You start, turning to face him.

"Not about _those_." He interrupted, eyes jumping to the stitches. If he didn't look so tired, you would have guessed he would have been a lot more upset at seeing them. "I saw them when the others were pumping you full of Determination… Why didn't you tell me?" His eyes locked with yours, and you looked away.

"Because it wasn't that important. They were getting better, and I didn't see any use in…" You trailed off, surprised that he didn't try interrupting you. You glanced up, seeing that he was patiently waiting for your excuses. "I just didn't want you to think it was you who did it. It wasn't. We already agreed on that." You pause, not sure where to go from there. "I just didn't want you to think you had to leave."

He shook his head, sighing. "I cant wrap my head around you. After everything you gone through… The alleyway, the beach, the willow, the underground… You really still want me hanging around you? I seem to be bad luck for you."

"It gets intense, yeah, but I have never felt more _alive_ than when I am around you." You explain, knowing that it was the truth. You had lived a pretty boring, safe life. Sure, it was stressful at times, but nothing that actually felt like it meant anything now. You tended to hate romantic clichés, but it felt like you were living for the first time ever since running into Sans (literally). "I like being around you, I don't want you to think you need to leave for any reason. I already forgave you for everything that happened, even though I didn't think you needed to apologize in the first place." You waited for his response, and he just silently stood there. You expected him finding the stitches was going to be a lot more stressful, or at least start a huge argument of some sort. This seemed almost too calm.

Sans finally nodded, and walked over to you with a hand out. You gave him yours and he gently turned it upward so your stitches were fully exposed. His free hand gently brushed the skin next to the stitches, trailing up from the start of the cut to the end. "How bad was it? Back when this happened?"

"It looked worse than it was, I hardly lost the usual donation's worth of blood." You say, trying to make it sound like a good thing. Sans closed his eyes, smile faltering. "But hey, I get these awesome scars now, and Undyne is gonna love them." You give a forced laugh, trying to lighten the mood. Sans look up at you with a neutral expression for a bit, before giving into your attempts.

He gave a half smirk and shook his head. "Heh, I bet she will. They do look pretty badass, I'm just… still sorry that I was the one to give these to you-"

"It wasn't you, you bonehead. We talked about this." You interrupt him and give a quick kiss to his forehead. You took back your arm and stepped around him to leave the bathroom, before your actions finally caught up to you. You froze, feeling your heartbeat speed up. You stood awkwardly in the hallway, heat rushing to your face as you carefully glanced behind you, seeing Sans as frozen as you were.

"I-I… Uh, did I just-"

"Yep."

You could only guess how red your face was when Sans replied. You wanted to say some sort of apology, but you weren't really sorry- you just didn't mean to do it at the time. Sans turned around wearing the biggest smirk you've seen from the skeleton yet, eyes bright. "I think you missed."

Well, forget how warm your face was before. It felt like it had Determination being injected into it now. Sans laughed at your reaction, bringing a hand to his mouth. You shook your head to get out of your shock, nervously smiling and rubbing the back of your head. "I- er… um. Next time then." You stammer, trying to recover. That caught Sans off guard, and you quickly turn and head to your room while you had the last word. Sans laughed again, following after you.

"If you say so, Verte-bae." You could hear the smile in his voice, god damn it. You flopped face down on your bed, and you could feel Sans sit on the other side. It was quiet for a bit as you let your face cool down in the pillow, before turning over and looking at him. He smiled down at you, eyes dimly illuminating the darkness between the two of you. The orange bathroom light was still on and leaking into the room from the hallway, so you weren't totally blind. Sans laid on his back beside you, mouth closed with a lazy smile. You were staring at where his lips would have been, had he been a human, and felt confusion cross your features. Sans noticed, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

"You." You say, poking his arm. "I thought you were all bones?" You asked while rolling onto your stomach, and you could see Sans getting confused now.

"Well… I am? Bones and magic makes the skeletons move 'round." He vaguely sang to some tune while waving a finger in the air in a circle motion. You sat up and looked at his face closer, making him dart his eyes around the room. "Er… why?"

You watched his mouth move as he asked, and you found your hands to the sides of his skull. "Bone isn't flexible… yet you can blink, move your eyebrows, and talk." You object. "Can I…?" Raising your fingers you ask, and he lifts an eyebrow.

"Uh, sure." He shrugs, seeming to understand what you asked. You moved your legs so you were sitting on his hipbone, leaning down and looking over his skull. You pressed your thumbs to his cheeks not surprised when it felt like solid bone. What did surprise you was when you put more pressure to it, and it felt like it gave in a little.

"Whoa." You let escape from your mouth, and you felt Sans chuckle under you. Your fingers rested on his eyebrows, slightly pushing them up and down just to feel the bone shift under them. You could see his eye lights watching your face as you tested his skull. He seemed to enjoy the studying, and he opened his mouth when you started glancing at it. No glowing tongue met you, only just the emptiness between his mandible and skull. Your fingers traced where his teeth met his maxilla, and you noticed that there seemed to be another layer of bone just above it, almost like how skin would be, but not at the same time. He didn't have any lips, but he could still cover his teeth if he really wanted to. You risk putting a finger between his teeth, gently tracing it along the tops of them and actually looking at how they were shaped for the first time.

When he had his teeth closed, they tended to look like they fit straight and perfectly, mostly looking like they wouldn't be able to open. Now they looked sharp and dangerous separated. You always assumed he had a human skeleton, but now you could see that his set of teeth was anything but. That would probably explain why the Gaster Blaster's teeth were so sharp from before.

"Do the tongue thing." You request, still examining his mouth. He laughed at how you worded it, but nodded, pulling his head away from your hands so you'd get your fingers out first. His teeth closed, looking perfectly inline with each other for a moment, before a blue glow appeared between the cracks. He opened his mouth again, and the blue light softly illuminated the two of you. You glance up to his one blue eye to silently request permission, and he only smiled bigger. Taking that as the 'A-Okay' sign, you gently touched the long magic tongue that hung out of his mouth.

Saying it felt weird would be an understatement. It felt almost like it was made out of some sort of solid slime, or firm jello or something. You really didn't have anything to compare it to. You poked the middle of it, and it lazily gave in and moved to your probing, the pointed tip brushing along the inside of your wrist. You pulled back your fingers and saw faint goo-like spit bridging between his tongue and your fingers. It glowed very faintly, apparently also being made by his magic. You laughed, quickly brushing the saliva on your pants.

"Well, that's awesome." You smile down at Sans, who looked like he was enjoying how into exploring his body you were. Sans nodded, tongue vanishing but leaving the glowing eye, and a dangerous look crossed his face for a second.

"My turn." You felt a shiver travel down your spine, and suddenly you were on your back on the bed, Sans sitting on your hips like how you were for him. You blink, trying to get your thoughts back together. "May I?" He asked the same question. You felt a blush rise to your face, but after a second to get your mind back in order, you nodded. His phalanges gently rested at the sides of your face, ever so slightly pressing into your skin. Curiosity took over the features of his face, and he started his exploration.

He begun with your cheeks, as you did with him, lightly pressing them around, seeming shocked that there was so much movement available to them. After a few moments he turned his attention to your nose, somewhat pushing it down, and watching it bounce back up. "You have the cutest nose out of all of them I've seen, and that's coming from someone who lived in a town that consisted of bunnies and dogs." Sans stated, complete aw in his eyes as he examined it closer. You felt heat rise to your cheeks at the compliment.

He traced your nose up to your eyebrows, brushing against them before running a hand through your hair. He loosely grabbed at it, letting it slip between his bones. You closed your eyes and enjoyed the feeling. Sans seemed to notice because his other hand started doing the same, and you felt your body sink into the bed more from relaxing. You sighed heavily and Sans abruptly stopped, 'tisk'ing.

"Ah ah… No sleeping yet. I'm not done." You open your eyes slightly and see Sans smiling down at you. You roll your eyes and adjust your shoulders, trying not to be as comfortable again. Sans's fingers ran down your hairline to your ears, tracing around them before gently pushing the back of them forward, folding them over themselves. He released them, watching them spring up and back to normal. "Right, you humans have that cartilage stuff. Handy." He chuckled and messed with your earlobes for a bit, intrigued at the softness of the flap of skin. He gave them a small tug, and continued moving his fingers down to your mouth, pressing on your lips. Their softness must have shocked him, you could see his eyes widen. It was your turn to laugh.

You lick your lips and open your mouth slightly, allowing him to continue. You heard him whisper a "whoa," when he saw your pink tongue resting in your mouth. He took his time, his phalange bumping along the top of your teeth a little before pinching your lower lip between it and his thumb. He pulled at it gently, and you could see one of his eyebrows rise even higher when it stretched. He let go, bringing his finger to the inside of your cheek and repeating the action, holding the same intrigued look on his face. You giggled again, carefully closing your teeth and swallowing some of the spit that you could feel building in your mouth.

When you opened your teeth again Sans wasted no time to put his finger between them, trailing further back, seeming intrigued with your molars. Finally seeming satisfied with the different kinds of teeth you owned, he poked your tongue. You found it hard not to laugh at the face he made, it was like he wasn't expecting it to feel that way. You suppose his was made out of _magic_ , so it wouldn't be exactly like what he was used to.

His finger retreated out of your mouth and he wiped the little wetness from his fingers onto his pants before tracing your jawline, fingers slowly moving down your throat. Holy shit. You felt a shiver travel down your spine and your eyes closed, and you stretched your neck more to allow him better access. He ran his fingers across your neck again, fanning out more and you shivered once more. You could hear Sans snicker but honestly you couldn't bother to care, this felt amazing. You did however notice your neck starting to feel a little tight, so you twisted your head ever so slightly. An audible pop was heard from your neck and suddenly Sans's grip on your tightened, his breathing becoming irregular.

His teeth brushed against your shoulder.

Your eyes popped open at the sudden feeling. You looked down and could see a faint blue glow radiating from Sans's cheeks, eyes closed and he was shaking ever so slightly. He deeply inhaled, looking like he was trying to cool off before pushing himself back up, arms resting on either side of your head. His blue eye looked down at you, a crooked smile making his way to his face. "You really, _really_ need to stop doing that around me."

You swallowed, not sure how to respond. He didn't look angry, or sick… he looked- "Are you turned on by that?" You asked loudly, shocked when you recognized the look. The glow from his cheeks grew brighter and he quickly sat up, looking away and rubbing the back of his neck.

"N-no! I-I mean, like, your definition of 'turned on' could be different than-" he attempted to cover himself, but you started laughing too hard for him to continue. "Hey now!" You couldn't stop. All this time you thought cracking bones bothered Sans, little did you know it did-only just in an entirely different meaning. Not even hearing yourself snort could stop the laughing fit you were in.

"Sans? Human?" Apparently Papyrus's voice was able to, however. You stop mid-laugh, freezing when you saw the taller skeleton looking at the two of you from the wide-open door, rubbing one of his eye sockets. Your face immediately heated up from embarrassment, realizing how Sans was still sitting on your hips. "What are you two doing up so late?"

"Hey bro." Sans smiled to him, not faltering for a moment. He didn't seem the slightest bit embarrassed. "I'm just helping the human to sleep, they seemed to be having some trouble." Papyrus raised an eyebrow at that.

"You two seemed awfully loud for trying to go to bed." Papyrus pointed out, and he wasn't wrong. Sans laughed, acting overly cool with the situation.

"Nah bro, I'm trying to get them to use up some energy so they are more tired. See? Now they are all worn out." Sans said and motioned to you, and you blinked. You were starting to get tired, but not really worn out- Sans's hands suddenly were combing through your hair, and your eyes instinctively close. Sssssshit that felt good. You felt yourself relaxing from the soothing scalp massage, sighing and sinking into the bed more.

"Ah, I see! A very smart plan, Brother! How very unlike you!" You snort at the burn that Papyrus said so casually, but Sans didn't seem to take it as anything. "May I join you in the bed then? The couch is not as comfortable when you are alone." Papyrus asked, and you felt guilty for leaving him there.

"Sure bro, climb on." Sans answered, and Papyrus did as told. You could feel the weight added to the bed, and Sans change his position so he was laying next to you, still rubbing your hair. Thankfully your bed was big enough for the three of you. You found no complaints as the skeleton brothers laid next to your sides, Sans slowly making sleep tickle the edges of your senses through his massaging. You threw an arm over Sans, and felt the darkness take you in with welcoming arms.


	18. Birthday (Day)

You never had such a good nights sleep before. You felt like you dreamt, but you couldn't actually remember anything by the time you woke up; you only had the overwhelming sense of happiness settled in your head. When you woke up you didn't move, just trying to enjoy the feeling a little longer. After a bit, you became aware of multiple hard objects gently pressing at you from all over your body. You opened your eyes, and saw that both of the skeleton brothers were hopelessly tangled with you.

Sans was to the front of you, hugging around your stomach and had his skull pressed against your chest. Papyrus was at your back, you could feel his ribs against your shoulder blades and his jaw above your head, and his lanky arms wrapped around both you and Sans. You didn't even make an effort to make sense the mess of your legs at the moment, the tangle of bones and flesh was just too much for your sleepy morning mind to attempt. Instead, you stretched and sighed, accepting your fate to be trapped in bed just a bit longer.

.

When you woke up again, Sans was somehow no longer wrapped within your and Papyrus's arms. He probably teleported out of the bed, you realize. It would be the only way to escape the mess of limbs that you were still trapped in. You huff a laugh and attempt to roll out of bed only to find Papyrus's grip tightening around you. You wiggle a little, trying to slip out to no avail. His boney arms were surprisingly strong.

"Papyrus?" You ask softly, trying to wake him enough to get out of bed. Snores were the only answer you received. You cough. Nothing. Wiggle wiggle. Nope. "Paps, come on, I need to get out." You say a little louder, but apparently he was a heavy sleeper. You heard a laugh from the doorway, and saw Sans smirking at your situation. "Little help?" You ask, struggling in Papyrus's arms. Sans nodded with a shit eating grin.

"Bro, the human is trying to escape." He said casually, hardly louder than you spoke. The response was immediate. Papyrus instantly sat up wide-awake, looking around rapidly.

"Human? Where?" He asked, excited.

"D-down 'ere." You struggle in his arms, trying to breathe. He sure woke up all right, but his arms didn't loosen their grip when he did, and he ended up just bringing you with him when he sat up. He looked down at you, seeming confused for a moment to why you were in his arms.

"Oh! Human! Right! My apologies, I thought I was back at Snowdin for a moment." He quickly let go of you and you enjoyed the air. You heard Sans laughing from the doorway. Little shit, he knew that would happen. You started to think of ways to get back at him later today.

"It's okay, ahaha –cough- sorry to wake you." You rub your arm.

"Nonsense! Today is a new day, and I am sure it is going to be full of adventures!" Papyrus paused, looking between you and Sans. "The nice, calming adventures that don't threaten our lives!" He added. You laughed at that, nodding.

"Yeah, I'm thinking we should go shopping today. I need to get Samus a mouse, it's been a while since she ate anything." You got up from the bed and picked out some clothes from your dresser, and you noticed Papyrus seemed confused. "Er, don't worry about it buddy. We'll have fun at the pet store!" You quickly try to sidetrack the skeleton, and were happy when it worked.

"Yes! I have heard many things of these pet stores! I shall allow you to get dressed then!" Papyrus quickly got up, heading to the door. "Come brother! Let us give the human the privacy!" He picked up Sans and held him under his arm on his hip like how someone would hold a ball, and walked out of the room. You laughed at how Sans simply shrugged, and you closed the door and quickly changed.

After picking out a good long sleeved shirt to wear, you took a moment to look around your room. Everything was the same, minus the very messy bed now, but it felt strange standing in your room. It felt weird being alone. You glanced at the mirror you had attached to your door and looked yourself over, happy to see that the Determination was still working its magic.

 _Magic_. Your mind wandered to what happened yesterday, and you couldn't stop from wondering what Sans did. Alphys look really troubled… You swallowed and looked at your chest through the mirror. "Maybe if I…" Bringing you hand about a foot in front of you, you held your palm towards your chest. Mirroring Sans's motions from before, you made a fist while turning away your hand. You felt really weird. Your mind felt scrambled and your lungs were aching like you needed more air. You stumbled back and tripped over your bed, landing hard on your back on the mattress, suddenly able to breathe again.

You look down and see a glowing red heart, floating brightly above your chest. Whoa, that didn't go as expected, but at least it worked. You slowly sit up and grab your Soul, shivering when you felt the familiar feeling on your physical body as well. Immediately you noticed something different about it. The red was the shade it should be, but there was a white crack down the middle of it from the indent on top to the tip on bottom, almost like a child's version of a broken heart.

You looked at it closer, feeling your eyebrows lower and get closer together. What makes a soul break like that? You didn't know, but you discovered what was holding it together. Looking closer near the middle of the heart, you noticed something thin and glowing blue wrapping around the entire heart. Where it began or ended, you couldn't tell, but you noticed that it also looked flat, like a thin rubber band.

You stroked down the heart with a finger, feeling like something was brushing down your spine, as how it tended to do. When your finger bumped onto the band, the feeling suddenly vanished. You heard a yelp and clanging of dishes falling against the floor in the other room, and Papyrus's concerned voice through the wall. Sans's voice shouted your name and you lifted your finger away from the glowing heart, wondering what happened. You heard heavy footsteps heading quickly down the hall to your room. The door flew open, and you could see Sans sweating and shaking, looking alarmed all around the room with wide eyes.

"What's going on? Who's attacking?" The blue glow in his eyes was bright and he quickly went beside you, keeping his back towards you and seeming ready to fight an attacker of some sort. There was a moment of silence that you were too confused to fill, and Sans appeared to slow down a little. He looked over his shoulder, seeing your Soul floating in front of you. "I… Wait, you were getting attacked right then, right?" He asked, the blue fading from his eye and slight confusion rising to his face.

"No, not at all." You quickly shake your head, surprised he would think that. Even more confusion was added to his face, and he looked down at your Soul again.

"But, your Soul… You cant summon your Soul yourself." He said, backing up slightly and looking at your face. You didn't understand, you saw Sans summon his soul, what was different about you? "But… You did?" He asked, seeing the look on your face. You nodded, and you could see some sort of relief take the panic off of Sans's face. It was also paired with something else, but it was gone before you could recognize it.

"Then, lets just get that back in you… It's a bit of a hazard to wear your heart on your sleeve, you know?" He laughed a little, seeming to try too hard to make that joke. You didn't draw attention to it, and grabbed your Soul. You just got it out, you almost didn't want to put it back in you already, but Sans kneeled before you, wrapping his hands around yours and gently pushing the heart back into your chest.

It is strange how you never notice something even when it left you, but you notice it when it finally gets back. Luckily not much seemed to be missing this time, just a little brighter colors and the mattress under you seemed a bit softer when your Soul entered your body again, but they still earned a small gasp. Sans watched you carefully, before nodding and seeming okay with that reaction.

"I don't know how you were able to do that… But, uh, don't try summoning your Soul without me next time. It can be kinda dangerous if you aren't used to it." Sans said, not really looking into your eyes. It looked like something was troubling him.

"Yeah, no problem. I'll remember that next time." You nod, and Sans looked calmed at that.

"Come on, you said you wanted to go to some shops. Papyrus is working on breakfast for you." He stood up and held out a hand to help you up. You accepted it, and made you way to the kitchen.

.

After you ate breakfast with the brothers (and noticed an extra couple of plates in the sink), the three of you started heading towards downtown. Papyrus was doing his usual massive strides, walking laps around you and Sans as the three of you casually talked. They were mentioning how they were friends with everyone underground, and you found some of it hard to keep straight.

Undyne was a knight of some sort, but also Papyrus's teacher when it comes to cooking. Alphys was a scientist who made Mettaton, who was good friends with Papyrus… somehow. Toriel was basically Frisk's mom, she liked cooking too. MK was the monster kid you saved, someone who was friends with Frisk. And finally, Frisk was the savior of the underground. Sure, you knew that from the picnic, but you could hardly wrap your head around that little child being able to go through the entire underground. Everyone kept saying how dangerous it was before the monsters were free…

"Could you take me there?" You ask, and Sans's steps faltered slightly.

"You- What?" He looked at you, shocked. "You want to go back there, after everything that happened with Flowey?" Yeaaaahhhh you almost forgot about that already. Wow. They were talking about it so much you forgot the most dangerous creature under there that was still possibly there.

"Well… Yeah. It sounds amazing, other than the crazy flower, of course. You said you had bioluminescent water? I've seen a few pictures of some beaches, but man, entire lakes filled with the stuff? Now that would be something to see." You zone out, trying to picture the blue glow of cave walls as you swam in the water. What made them glow, you wonder? Was there some sort of bacteria or shrimp in it or something?

"…I guess… But only after we help you learn how to dodge. I don't want any more encounters with weeds." Sans agreed, and you couldn't wait to learn. You could probably go see where Sans lived!

After some more walking and talking, you reached the pet store. Immediately upon entering you lost Papyrus, not that you were keeping a careful eye on him in the first place. You headed straight for the rodents, and got the attention of a worker to help grab you one. You didn't bother looking at all of the other animals, you've been here more than enough times for the wonder to had run its fill. As you pulled out your wallet you noticed Sans appear beside you, and you managed to not jump. You continued to hand the worker a five dollar bill, waiting for the change, and you swore you saw Sans looking at your wallet closer. When you got the change you turned to ask him what he was looking at, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Hm." You hummed, turning your attention back to Papyrus, who was now sitting in the puppy display and had five young pups excitedly run around him as a sixth was biting at his legs, and one of the store owners standing next to him looking like he didn't know what to do. "Hey Paps, I got what we came for. You want to continue shopping?" You ask, and Papyrus seemed hesitant to leave the dogs.

"Sure human, let me just-" He paused, hearing some tune from his phone. He pulled out a phone from his armor, looking at it carefully. He jumped, looked at you, and immediately got up. "Oh!"

"Oh?" You ask, wondering what the text was. Papyrus rubbed the back of his head, seeming to try and play off the reaction. "Oh… I, uh, remembered that I need to head back to my apartment, right now, immediately. Undyne needs help with, uh. Anime." His eyes kept darting around. At least it was obvious that Papyrus was a terrible liar, but what was he lying about?

"Oh, okay. I suppose that makes sense." You watched him carefully, and saw his hands started fumbling with each other. "Well, I guess I'll just head home then. See you later?" You slowly turned away from him and to the door, hoping he'd break and tell you what's up.

"Yes! I mean no- wait no of course I'll see you!" Man, he was really bad at lying, but you still had no idea what was going on. Papyrus quickly ran past you and out of the store, heading in the opposite direction of your apartment. Well then.

"Sans?" You asked loud enough to be heard around the store. After a moment of silence (minus the dogs and birds) there was no response, so you turned to leave. "I'll just walk myself home then…" You mumble, confused to where the others had to rush off to. Your phone vibrated, and you pressed open the screen to see a text from Sans. How he managed to download a silly font onto your phone confused you for a moment, before you actually read the text.

[sorry kid. had to head out. see you later. can you grab some cookies from muffet?]

The text lacked any sort of capitalization, and the 'kid' part threw you off. Since when did Sans call you kid? You send him a [No problem.] and left the store, walking towards where you remember Muffet's Bakery was.

The road was mostly empty, and it was strange feeling so alone walking down the sidewalk. You tried to not focus on it, but you couldn't help holding the box with your mouse a little closer to you. It sure must have been important if the brothers just up and left you like that. Maybe something happened? Why wouldn't they say anything then?

You shake your head clear and look for the bakery, happy to see that it was where you last saw it. Crossing the street and heading in, you were hit with the wonderful scent of baked goods.

"Ahuhuhu~ Why hello there! Good to see you again dear!" The spider girl giggled, her five eyes squinting in the process. One of her six arms came to her mouth, giggling behind it like she just told a joke, but she did that last time as well, so it must just be a spider thing.

"Hey, I need a few cookies, give me whatever you think is good." You say, realizing that Sans never specified what kind. Muffet nodded, grabbing multiple cookies at the same times with various hands. Man, that looks handy. Ha. You made yourself laugh inside your head. You watched as small black spiders walked along the counter and pulled the paper bag towards you.

"Here you are, thank you for your support." Muffet smiled, showing off her fangs brightly. You nod and pay your total, happy that the money is going to a good cause… even if that cause is to help spiders out. You weren't a _huge_ fan of spiders, but hey, they made pretty good goods.

You left the bakery, and immediately felt alone again. Dang it, what were those monsters doing to you? You were perfectly fine being alone until they showed up, now the air just felt empty without them around. You huff at your frustration and start heading home, realizing it would take even longer now since you went to the bakery.

After a long while of walking alone in a mostly empty sidewalk, you finally were able to see your apartment coming up. It was easier to spot now, thanks to the bones that were duct taped outside the window and the damaged door.

You unlock the door and enter in the room, noticing the quiet in the dark room. "Sans? Papyrus?" You ask, not really expecting an answer. The light flicked on and you saw a bunch of monsters in your living room wearing huge smiles on their faces suddenly appear.

"SURPRISE!" They all shouted at once. You yelped and dropped the spider goods, startled at all of the faces. You saw the skeleton brothers smiling at you and holding a cake somehow made of spaghetti, and many of their friends waving behind them. Undyne, Mettaton, Alphys, Toriel, and Napstablook were all here, and when you looked under the cake you noticed the kid too. Frisk.

"Whoa." You gasp, not expecting the surprise party. At all, in fact. "What." You blink, and Sans smiled.

"I saw your birthdate on your ID, I figured that you forgot what day it is since all of the excitement the past few days, so I went ahead and told everyone." Sans smiled and Undyne nodded.

"Yeah! It's not every day that one of you humans get born!" She seemed so exited thinking about it, you didn't want to correct her and say that one was born like every half second or something, so you just silently smiled. "I made the cake, luckily Papyrus got here to help me out not too long ago!" She gave Papyrus a smack on a shoulder.

"There is pie baking in the oven." Toriel added, seeing your eyes linger on your 'cake' a bit longer than usual. It was impressive, but you almost didn't want to know how they made a cake out of spaghetti and meatballs. It had candles and everything.

"Wow, thank you guys! I completely forgot about my birthday, this is an amazing surprise." You smile at everyone, realizing that they are some of your best friends and you've only just met most of them.

"Glad to hear, darling! Now, let's get this party started!" Mettaton ran at you, picking you up and swinging you around. Music started playing from your TV, and the others quickly started having fun as well. You couldn't help but laugh as all of the monsters enjoyed themselves, and you enjoyed the party as well, even if you weren't as extraverted as most people.

.

The party went on forever it seemed like, not that it was a bad thing. You actually enjoyed the spaghetti cake, along with a slice of the butterscotch pie, and the others were thankful for the spider cookies you grabbed. After a bit of random dancing everyone calmed down enough to just hang and listen to the music, and after a few songs you recognized one of them.

"Wait, is this my song?" You ask, sitting up from the couch. Napstablook nodded, floating over to you. They looked somewhat embarrassed, but almost proud at the same time.

"Ohhh… y-yeah. I tried something new with it… Do you like it?" They asked, and you quickly nodded.

"It's amazing! It sounds like some videogame tune or something!" You tried picturing some sort of boss battle to the song, but the creature wasn't quite coming to mind.

"You like videogames? I haven't been to an arcade in a while." Sans thought aloud, sitting beside you.

"Same. We should do that some time!" You say excitedly. Sans nodded, looking off in the distance in thought for a moment before continuing the conversation. The party continued on, and on, and on… You were pretty sure that it was the next day by now, but it seemed like your company was only half as tired as you were. Some time ago Toriel left with Frisk, saying how it was a school night and they needed to both be ready in the morning. Strange, you weren't sure if you heard Frisk say a single word the entire time they were at your apartment. The monsters made up for that five times over, at least.

You looked over to the counter, seeing the box from the pet store. "Oh!" You quickly got up, startling Sans and almost making him knock over his ketchup. "I'll be right back." You grab the box and head to your room, figuring that the others wont miss you for too long.

You turn on the light and saw Samus leaning against the glass while upside down, apparently practicing her acrobatics while waiting for you to get home. You smile and pop the lid off of her cage, quickly hanging the mouse in it and waiting for her to bite it. She did, and you let go of the mouse, watching her as she adjusted herself properly for the feast, and you put the lid back on.

"So, about that offer…" You jumped when you heard Sans behind you. He was sitting on the bed, casually watching as Samus swallowed the mouse whole. "Still up?"

"Offer?" You ask, raising an eyebrow. You couldn't remember any offers you gave Sans. Unless he was talking about the- "Oh!" You blink, startled that he would remember that. "I-I mean, I'm cool with it, if you are, I mean. Uh." You stutter, not moving from where you were standing. Sans laughed.

"Well, happy birthday Verte-bae." He stood up and walked over to you, hands going to your waist. You felt a blush coming to your face, but you tried to ignore it.

"Human? Sans?" Papyrus looked into the room, startling you and making you look. Sans only pulled you closer.

"Not now, bro." He brought a hand up to your neck and angled your head down towards him, and pressed the bone of where his lips would have been to yours.


	19. Training Day

Despite not having lips of the traditional form, Sans's boney 'lips' softly pressed against yours, his warmth seeming to flood your face. Your eyes were open from the shock, though his sockets were closed, slightly outlined from the blue glow radiating from his cheeks. The scent of peppermint and a hint of burnt wood became noticeable at that second, confusing you for a moment of why you would notice that. The smell was soothing either way, and you allowed Sans's hand on the back of your head to pull you slightly closer for a moment, before releasing you. Sans took a half step back, looking at you as you processed everything that happened.

You blinked, taking your time to think. You kissed a skeleton. Worse (better?) yet, you enjoyed it. What would your parents say to that? That thought sent more heat to your cheeks, and you looked back up at Sans. He was watching your reaction carefully, raising an eyebrow as if to ask how he did. You smile at him, confirming his thoughts that you liked it. His features suddenly shifted, seeming not quite satisfied with just the sample kiss, and he took a step forward.

Unfortunately, the both of you forgot Papyrus was standing there.

"SANS! How indecent of you! If you want to initiate the date, you have to do it properly!" A very thin book suddenly appeared between the two of you, causing you to jump back and break the moment. It looked like some sort of dating guide, far as you could tell. It couldn't be more than a few pages thick, but it looked incredibly worn, as if it was actually studied on by multiple creatures. You heard Sans start to laugh.

"Right, how silly of me." Sans plucked the book out from Papyru's hands, eyes lingering on you for a moment before glancing at Papyrus. He didn't look too irritated about being interrupted, more humored than anything as he opened the book and started quickly reading down one of the pages. "Step one, press the c key on your keyboard for the Dating Hud." Sans paused, blinked, and raised an eyebrow. He looked at his brother questionably, unsure of what to make of the instructions. "Uh… Papyrus? Are you sure this is the right manual?"

"Of course it is! It is the one that Frisk and I followed for our date!" Papyrus nodded, crossing his arms. You choke back a laugh, wondering how that date turned out.

"Whatever you say bro." Sans shrugged, licking one of his finger bones with his glowing tongue before turning the page. "Step two, ask them out for a date." He closed the book with his finger keeping track of which page he was on (not that it really would have mattered) and looked at you, glancing at his brother while preparing the vital question. "Verte-bae, what about it? What to go out on a date with me?" He seemed like he was having a hard time holding back laughter, same with you, but evidently he did anything if it made his brother happy.

"Ohhhh! I wonder what the human will say?" Papyrus's feet danced quickly on the floor out of excitement, as if he genuinely was wondering what response you'd have.

"Er… Yeah?" You shrug with one shoulder, not understanding how this was supposed to be a _helpful_ manual.

"Oh boy! I didn't see that coming!" Papyrus shouted with joy, jumping slightly.

"Sweet. Step three, put on nice clothes to show you care." Sans's eyebrows rose slightly at that, seeming to be holding back a joke. "Not sure if I have anything I can put on… oh, I got something I guess. I'll be right back. Come on Bro, let the human change." Sans stepped out of the room followed by Papyrus, and the door closed.

"Nice clothes?" You asked the empty room. It didn't answer you, but you quickly turned to dig around in your closet for something half decent to wear. After making a mess, you found a box tucked in the corner of the mini room, and inside it was a simple striped poncho. It looked familiar, but you weren't quite sure where you got it. You heard a knock at the door, and you felt your heart hammering from not finding anything else to wear. "Hold on!" You shouted, slipping the small hole of the poncho over your head and adjusting it so it sat proper on your shoulders.

You quickly closed your closet to hide the mess, and glanced at the mirror in your room. Hm. The poncho didn't look half bad on you. "Okay, ready." You said loudly, and the door opened. Sans was standing there, looking like he didn't change clothes despite leaving. It took you a moment before you noticed that he did change… from his white tank top to a white turtleneck, and still wearing his blue jacket. You laughed and he smirked, though Papyrus stood behind him looking quite satisfied.

"Stripes?" Sans asked, looking at the poncho closer he seemed slightly confused at that, though you didn't know why. It wasn't like these were unflattering stripes…

"Yeah, something wrong with it?" You asked slightly nervous, pulling the edges out so you could get a better look at it hoping to see what threw him off. Sans quickly shook his head.

"No, nothing like that. I'm just glad I know it's your birthday." He laughed, seeming relieved. Papyrus also seemed slightly confused at your stripe-wearing, but neither of them bothered to explain. Maybe monsters had a thing against stripes? Then again you remember that one Monster Kid was wearing stripes whenever you saw them around… You tried to figure out the mystery, but decided to drop it for now.

"What does the book say next?" You asked, starting to get curious what getting all dressed up was for.

"Lets see, now would be the time for secret sharing, and gift giving, and one of us to admit defeat." He paused a moment before closing the book with a snap. "Well. Thank you for properly informing me Bro, I feel very… informed." Sans handed the book back to Papyrus, who happily grabbed it and nodded.

"I shall enlighten the others of your date! Do continue to have fun uninterrupted!" He quickly ran out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him just a little too fast.

Sans stepped closer to you, smiling more. "Well, sorry I don't have any fancy gifts for you. I don't have any quantum physics boxes on me at the moment, but I don't suppose another kiss would suffice?" He asked, grin growing in size. You didn't know what he meant about the… physics boxes, but that offer…

"Hmm… not sure." You started, bringing a hand to your chin and pretending to be deep in thought. "I don't think just _one_ would do it." Shaking your head, acting quite concerned. "It _is_ my birthday after all…"

Sans suddenly appeared much closer than he was a second ago, shrugging in a 'what to do' way. "Well then, you just have to let me know when to stop." He leaned forward for another kiss, and this time it was your turn to pull him in.

.

When morning came, sunlight was flooding through the window of your room, giving everything an orange tint. You were lying on your back, Sans loosely draped across your body with his head laying on your arm. Oh man, your arm felt cold. That was bad news. Hopefully he wouldn't wake up for a-

"Morning." Sans blinked awake, looking at you with a smile. You smile back for a moment, before that smile becomes forced and your eyes shake. "What's wrong?" Sans asked, sitting up quickly. You immediately hiss, grabbing at your still asleep arm as the painful tingles stabbed into your skin.

"Sleeping aaaaaaaaarm." You grit between your teeth and curl around the tingly limb, making wincing noises as the static feeling increased even more. More pain suddenly jolted in your arm, and you quickly pull away, seeing Sans was trying to help by touching it. "AAAAHHH AHAhAHahhahahaHAhhhhhaaaaaa….hhhh….. Don't touchhhhhh…" Your strangled scream/laugh died to a whisper as you slowly tried to flex your hand into a fist and work the tingles out.

"Oh, sorry." Sans lifted his hands, making sure to keep clear of you. You nodded and bit your lip for a while, flexing and releasing your fist over and over until the feeling died off.

"Ooph. That was fun." You laugh, finally sitting up and giving your arm a few pats. "Sorry 'bout that, sleeping limbs are very… touchy." You give Sans a smile and see the confusion on his face.

"Sleeping limbs?" He asked. You wondered if other monsters (the more fleshy kind) had similar problems as humans, or not since they were made of magic. Maybe Sans just didn't have any experience with creatures with anything more than bones.

"Yeah, when blood flow gets cut off from a limb for too long, it falls asleep. When the blood comes rushing back everything gets all… tingly." You tried your best to explain quickly. You chuckled a little. "Your skull apparently is just enough to make my arm fall asleep ahah… Don't worry about it though! Everything is fine now." You waved your arm and tapped it to show him. He nodded. "So… what do we have planned for today?" You asked him.

"If you didn't have anything in mind, we could probably head to the park and practice training. You wanted to learn how to dodge after all, best to do that soon as possible." Sans said, and you couldn't help but get a little excited.

"That sounds great!" You say with a smile, and Sans returned one. "I'll get washed up. You wake Papyrus and see what the damage was last night." Sans nodded, moving his legs to hang off the bed before stopping for a moment.

"Oh! Almost forgot something." He leaned over to you and kissed your cheek. "That was a close one." He smirked, quickly getting off of the bed and leaving your room before you could say anything. Your cheeks felt warm for a while after that.

.

"NEHEHEHEH! Ready human?" Papyrus faced you, smiling with a dangerous glint in his eye. You could feel yourself shaking as you held onto your bruised arm, watching as more bones materialized out of thin air. Oh no, you weren't ready. Papyrus smiled brighter, throwing more bones at you.

"Shitshitshitshitttt-" You ran and leapt over the magical bones, trying to get over them. You really, _really_ wished you kept up your exercising from all those years ago. Fortunately enough, these attacks were slow enough that even most out of shape people had a decent chance. That being said, you were worried about the attacks of monsters that _actually_ wanted to hurt you.

You were doing pretty well! … You think. It was hard to tell if Papyrus started using more small bones on purpose, or just out of worry of actually hurting you. You look up from the bones to see his expression, looking incredibly happy to use his magic either way.

You stop moving just in time for a blue bone to fly through you, literally. This "blue magic" was really throwing you off, but your bruised arm helped you learn the special attack quick enough. Sans tried explaining it to you earlier, though he kept throwing weird phrases out there like "Blue STOP Signs" to help you remember, though it ended up just throwing you off when it came down to it. When you got hit he immediately stopped Papyrus from continuing for a while, much to your irritation.

Even though Sans agreed to help you learn how to dodge, he seemed so… antsy when you guys finally got to the park less an hour ago. He was suggesting finding some froggits to help train instead of Papyrus, but the brother was insistent on helping you, claiming that this was a challenge for the 'Great and Mighty Papyrus' to handle.

Even so, the first couple attacks of Papyrus's were small, just miniature bones flying through the air vaguely at your direction. You, of course, yelled at him and made sure that Papyrus took you seriously. His next attacks were much more impressive and challenging, though half way through one of the attacks you noticed your soul turn blue and was yanked to the side, just in time to dodge one of the larger bones.

Turns out Sans was trying to 'help' you, but that was the last thing you wanted. You _needed_ to learn how to do this on your own. Of course if you got into a real fight you'd appreciate the help, but not during practice. So, despite Sans's complaints, you sent him off to go get some Muffet Goods so you and Papyrus could properly train.

You've been holding up pretty well, Papyrus was kind enough to give you a moment to catch your breath between each wave of attacks, though you felt like that moment was getting shorter every time. This time needed to be the exception.

You leaned on your knees for support, gasping in air and trying to calm your racing heart down. You held up a finger, unable to say, "one minute please" to Papyrus. He understood, standing up straight and giving you your minute.

"Are you sure you wish to continue, human? I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to take a proper break." Papyrus asked. You shook your head, grabbing your water bottle and drinking a good portion of it.

"I'm… Good. Just need air…" You paused, taking another sip from your water. You looked up to the willow tree beside the two of you, feeling more determined seeing its trailing leaves blow in the breeze. This clearing was almost too perfect for your training session, since no humans bothered going into the trees there wouldn't be any drama of humans and monsters fighting. Not to mention that the ground was almost perfectly flat, perfect for you to not loose your footing.

"Okay… I'm good." You put down your water bottle and brace yourself, waiting for Papyrus's next attacks. You focused on the skeleton, watching as bones started to rise up from by his feet.

There was movement behind him, drawing your attention. Something golden.

You react just too late at a bone heading towards you, and when you leapt you could feel your foot get caught on something. You grabbed onto and curled protectively around your soul, and fell onto the cold ground just in time for a bone to smack you in the face.

You saw stars.

.

Hands were shaking you as the darkness faded from your vision, reviling Sans and Papyrus looking down at you. Your upper lip felt warm and wet, and when you touched it you saw blood left on your finger.

"Oh thank god, you are awake." Sans said, looking relieved seeing your eyes open, though looking quite uneasy at the moment. You felt a slight bit of confusion at what happened, before remembering the bone that got you.

"Ooph… well… that happened." You slowly sit up, pinching your nose. A nosebleed. Great.

"Here," Sans quickly said, pulling out some brown napkins from the paper bag he was holding and handing them to you. You bring one to your nose and try to get some of the blood, shocked that your face didn't hurt more than it did. It was just a bit sore on the bridge of your nose, but other than that it felt okay.

"Thanks." You rolled one of the napkins up and stuffed it in a nostril, pausing with another napkin when you saw Sans carefully watching you. "Yes?"

"Are you… okay? I came back in time to see that bone hit you pretty hard…" While he was talking his eyelights didn't look away from the blood under your nose. Clearly the only reason he was this calm was because of how casually you were taking it, which was mostly for their benefit. You didn't want the skeleton brother freaking out and thinking you were just some fragile human after all.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little nosebleed. We might have to call it quits for today though." You looked at Papyrus, who nodded, seeming concerned about the blood as well. You stuffed the other paper towel in and brushed the dirt off of your knees. Pausing for a bit. "Uh… May I see my Soul real quick?" You asked, wanting to know the results of the practice round today. Sans seemed reluctant to do so, but Papyrus reached out his hand and brought a fist towards him, pulling your Soul out of your body. It had lots of white bruise-like marks all over it, making the blue band around it stand out more, but you felt proud of the quarter of red that was scattered around your soul.

"Not bad for your first time!" Papyrus said with a thumbs up, proud of you as well. Sans stayed quiet, seeming unsure of what to say as he looked between the floating heart and your bloodied nose.

"Thanks to you, I'm sure. You are a very good teacher." You said, mostly to make the skeleton smile bigger. You glanced closer at the floating heart, before carefully pushing it back into your chest. It easily seeped in, partially startling you that it actually did this time. Part way through your training session you tried to tuck your Soul back into your body, but it just simply squished against your chest, almost rejecting the idea of getting back in you during a fight. Apparently if you black out it gets back in anyway, so you didn't have to worry about that.

"That is so very kind of you, human! Maybe next time we should get Undyne to help out as well!" Sans jumped at hearing that.

"O-or! We could wait a few more sessions before asking her!" Sans quickly said, helping you stand up. "But for now, lets get you home and cleaned up. You did good work today kid." He smiled, this time honestly, and pointed towards your apartment. You nodded and the three of you started to leave the clearing. When you were about to go through the trees you stumbled a little over a root, and that got you wondering what you tripped over in the clearing during the fight. You slowed your steps and looked back, knowing that you'd probably not be able to see whatever tripped you anyway. You felt your heart pause.

A small golden flower was standing alone in the clearing, facing you with a smile.


	20. Stuck Day

This month seems pretty light on Homework, so I'll be attempting to do my "Once A Week" posting for Sans Days, though I'm not sure how well it will work out. I started to use my (Madlyinlov3) for Early Access chapters, so if you want to read chapters a day early become a (If you pledge $5 or higher you can appear in Sans Days as well)! Otherwise you can wait an extra day and get read them free, as usual.

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You felt your heart- no, your _Soul_ \- thump from within you, a wave of panic silently rushing through your system. The flower smiled at you, waving at you with a leaf in an almost friendly gesture. All of time seemed to slow down as you stared at the golden flower, who gradually became confused, tilting his head. You felt frozen in place with your Soul hammering within your chest, your fight-or-flight responses going crazy under your skin. Flowey's expression changed to something darker, a broken smile of a sort, though it was clear he was angry.

He didn't succeed.

Finding control of your body again, you took a step back and bumped into Papyrus. You blinked, and the flower vanished.

"Hey… Kid you okay?" Sans's voice shattered the slowed time, and suddenly you were very aware of your breathing. You shook your head and looked at Sans, who seemed even more concerned about you than before. "You feeling alright? You look really pale… are you loosing too much blood?" He reached out a hand to rest on your cheek.

You grabbed the hand and immediately started walking through the woods, faster than your usual pace. "I-I think I saw…" You swallowed, catching yourself from saying his name. If you told Sans that you saw Flowey _here_ , he'd never let you train here again. He might even refuse to let you leave the apartment alone, knowing that Flowey is in town. "Nothing. Come on." You say, trying to calm down more. You'll train more, you think. If you train enough, Sans wont have a choice but to trust you on your own.

"If you say so…" Sans didn't look convinced, but he didn't press on the matter.

The three of you grew quiet while walking through the woods, your nervousness probably growing on them just by your rush. Soon as you stepped on solid concrete you felt your body physically relax, relieved of the man-made stone encasing the city. Ha, take that Flowey! Just try to get through the pavement! You mentally cheered. For once, you were thankful you lived in a big city rather than the countryside.

"So…" You broke the nervous silence, adjusting your grip on the skeleton hand. "Any other plans for today? There is still plenty of time left today." You said, wanting to distract the brothers from what just happened. Your voice sounded a little funny from the paper napkins stuffed in your nose, but you figured it'd be better to keep them in a while.

"Alphys and Undyne called while I was getting stuff from Muffet's, they said they'd be bringing Frisk over to hang out if you wanted. They are stuck with kid-duty since Toriel has Parent-Teacher night at the school today." Sans said, tucking the paper bag under his arm and pulling out his phone. You nodded, thinking about it.

"Sure, that sounds good." Sans quickly started a text to your response, probably letting them know. "What'd you grab from Muffet's?" You asked, feeling your stomach grumble a little.

"Just a few scones. Want one?" He shifted his arm while texting, allowing you to grab the bag. You let go of his hand and grabbed one that had white chocolate and quickly bit into it, letting the flavor explode in your mouth. Damn. That spider can really cook.

"Strange. A human is attempting to climb a tree, and not very well at that." Papyrus spoke up, drawing your attention away from the food. You looked back to see what he was looking at, and followed his eye sockets to a tree on the sidewalk. A human was standing under it, waving their hands around and attempting to grab a branch far above them. Something small and white was sitting on the branch, though it was partially obstructed by leaves so you couldn't tell what it was.

"Someone's cat stuck in the tree?" You asked, drawing Sans's attention to it as well. "Let's check it out." You suggest, and the three of you walked over to the person as you finished the scone.

She was slightly taller than you, but it wasn't nearly enough to reach the animal. After a couple more jumps she stopped and looked around, noticing the three of you walking up to check out her situation. "Oh thank god! Can you help me get Temmie?" She said, looking ecstatic that you were there.

"Temmie?" You asked and looked at the animal. The branch was hiding most of it, but you could see a pair of dog ears… wait no, cat ears. "No problem. Papyrus, let me stand on your shoulders." You say, bumping him with your elbow. He nodded and walked close to the trunk of the tree, turning his back to you.

"Are you sure you don't want me to just-" Sans started, but you started climbing on Papyrus. "Alright." You wondered what he was gonna say, but you focused on keeping your balance from your new height. After about a minute of struggling, you find good footholds on Papyrus's boney shoulders and keep your hands against the tree for support.

"Okay Paps, slowly walk over." You instruct, and he nodded, apparently quite happy to assist. The two of you worked your way down the branch, and you finally looked up to see the… Temmie? You felt only confusion while looking at the creature, which looked like some sort of Dog/Cat monster with hair, both sets of ears, and a rather… strange looking face. If you had to draw it, you could easily just do a [ :3 ] emoticon, though it looked rather stressed at the moment.

"Here… Temmie-Temmie-Temmie…" You beckoned to the monster, still working your way to it. It jumped, evidently just noticing you now, and its expression immediately changing to excessively happy.

"hOI! im temmie!" It shouted, jumping onto its feet and looking at you. It had an almost child-like voice, but in the sense it sounded like a grown person imitating a child. It caught you off guard.

"I… er… hi, Temmie… I'm going to help you out of the tree now, okay?" You asked, finally close enough to grab it. You gave it a second to respond, before slowly grabbing it around its body. It started shaking and it's mouth closed tightly, before almost crying.

"awawawawah! human…such a… CUTE!" It shouted, grabbing onto your face with its little paws, shaking even more aggressively. "tem… alleric to CUTEE!" A red bump suddenly appeared on its forehead, followed by another one on it's cheek, and three others rapidly appearing. You yelped and recoiled, not knowing what was going on. This of course, led to your balance on Papyrus's shoulders not being as stable as it was, and you had the sense of falling. Oh, that's because you were.

You heard Sans shout something from behind you, but you were too busy screaming at the monster in your hands that was having an allergic reaction to understand. One hand flew back to try and catch your fall, it collided with something and you heard a popping sound, before your head crashed on top of Sans's coat.

"hOIVES!" You heard the small monster in your arm declare.

"You alright?" Papyrus and the girl quickly asked, turning to you and Sans. You felt Temmie wiggle in your arm a little before slipping free, and heard them being picked up by the stranger.

"I'm good…" You say, bringing your now Temmie-free hand and rubbing your head. You push off of your other one to sit up, noticing your hand pressing against something warm, but when you pulled it out of reflex it got caught at the wrist.

"I-I-I…. Err… A-ah…" Sans muttered from under you, but you could feel vibrations coming up from your wrist. You turned and looked where your hand was, pausing when you noticed your wrist vanish into Sans's right eye socket. He was sweating heavily and staring at your arm with his other eyelight, struggling to hold onto his shaky smile.

"Oh my god!" You yelled, quickly rolling off of him and pulling at your hand, lifting his head up in the process.

"A-ah! I-its okay! Just h-hold on!" Sans grabbed at your arm, breathing hard, looking like he was trying to think things through but rather distracted at the moment.

"Brother! Are you in pain?" Papyrus asked loudly, kneeling down and looking at your wrist as well.

"N-nah bro. J-just a little _rattled_ aaahahahaha."

"Whelp! Thanks for the help!" You turned your head just in time to see the stranger running off with Temmie.

"Wait! Cant you…" You gave up getting her attention as she ran around a corner. "…help." You turned your attention back to Sans, seeing him trying to calm down his breathing.

"It's okay… Lets just calmly…" He gently pulled at your arm, but your wrist got stuck in the eye socket again. "I think we should give it a _wrist_ for now…"

"Maybe we can use some butter at home?" You asked, unsure how to get your hand out of his skull. Papyrus grabbed the two of you and lifted, bring you to standing. You had to hold your arm awkwardly in order to level your wrist with Sans's eye socket.

"That sounds l-like a plan." Sans almost nodded, not quite managing it. "Undyne and Alphys are probably already well on their way there with Frisk, I'm sure they'll help." He motioned down the sidewalk and you nodded, and the two of you awkwardly started walking towards your apartment. Papyrus did his usual strides around you, occasionally giving the two of you concerned looks.

.

Luckily it didn't take long before you could see your apartment, and Papyrus rushed forward to get the door for you and Sans. He continued to hold the door for at least another minute as you guys continued walking at the same pace, finally arriving at the 'appropriate' distance to open the door for others, and walked in to see Alphys and Undyne watching some anime on your TV, Frisk sitting squished between them.

"Sup nerds? Where'd-? Undyne froze mid question, looking at your arm, before throwing back her head and bursting out into ugly laughter.

"Sans? What did you two…" Alphys questioned, also bringing a hand up to mostly cover her smile.

"We helped a human retrieve their Temmie! Unfortunately our human ended up falling in the process…" Papyrus informed, looking a little embarrassed for the two of you. Frisk brought both of their hands to their mouth in silent laughter.

"Could one of you grab some butter?" You asked, walking more into the living room. Apparently you walked too fast, and Sans stumbled behind you, tripping and falling forward. You turned in time to grab him with your free hand, twisting your wrist slightly uncomfortably. "Er… sit down." You help him to the ground and he crossed his legs, glaring at the others with his not-occupied eye.

Undyne was still laughing hard, but she got up and went to your fridge. You heard the clanking of things inside bumping around, and Undyne shifting through the food supplies. Uh Oh.

"Bad news nerds." You heard her snicker. "All out of butter." The door of the fridge slammed shut, and you saw Papyrus shift his weight around.

"Sorry. My fault."

"Ah… Its okay bro. You can go with the others and buy some more real quick." Sans suggested, immediately lifting Papyrus's mood.

"Right! I shall do that!" He leapt up, looking excited.

"'Others' meaning us? We just got here not too long before you did." Undyne interjected, against the trip to the store. Sans half nodded.

"Yes, meaning you and Alphys. I don't need you two laughing at us while we wait."

"Good point." Alphys shrugged, standing and putting on her jacket. Undyne looked like she was going to complain more, but Alphys waved her over to the door.

"Ugh, fine you dorks. You better not get your hand out of his head until we get back!" Undyne jabbed an accusing finger in your direction, before turning to the door and putting on her leather jacket. "See you nerds in a few." Papyrus nodded, opening the door for the lady monsters, and closing it tightly behind him.

The room was quieter once they left, though the TV was still playing the anime. Some bald dude punched a giant fish monster, though it looked nothing like Undyne. Apparently it wasn't nearly as strong either, since it immediately exploded. Sans coughed, bringing your attention away from the TV.

"So… it doesn't hurt, right?" You asked, slightly tugging at your wrist again, he shook his head, though when you moved your hand around he seemed uncomfortable.

"No, its not painful… just… _sensitive_." He stressed the word, and you were reminded of the day Samus explored his ribcage. There were two little thumps next to you, startling you. You forgot Frisk was still here. They walked up to Sans, squinting and looking at his skull. Suddenly they stuck their own hand in his other eye, quickly pulling it back out with a smile, probably showing off their smallness compared to you.

Sans recoiled and covered his eye, looking incredibly offended. "HEY KID! How 'bout you wait till one hand is out of my skull before sticking another in?" He swallowed, trying to calm down. The human child nodded while still smiling, slowly walking around the two of you and grabbing the remote for the TV off of the stand. For the first time you noticed they were wearing a pink ballerina tutu under their blue and purple striped sweater... Mettaton would probably faint at the color combination.

"Sheesh kid… what's with the old outfit? Training with Undyne again?" Sans asked, noticing the tutu as well. Frisk nodded, and moved their hands in front of their chest, motioning a few things before bringing two fingers to their nose and bringing them down to two other fingers. You recognized it as sign language.

"Uh… Sorry… I didn't catch that." You say, and Frisk signed it slightly slower. Of course this didn't help you much, seeing how you didn't understand sign language in the first place. "Uh."

"They said they had lots of fun." Sans said, noticing the confusion on your face. Frisk nodded, smiling. They motioned a bunch more, before bringing their hands up to silently laugh more. "They got Undyne in trouble with Toriel, and now are no longer allowed to train on school grounds." Sans laughed. "Wow kid, nice work."

They nodded, walking back to the couch and jumping up on it, clicking through the channels before getting to the one with Mettaton on it. Seemed like the go-to channel for your apartment nowadays. Seeming satisfied with the choice, they got busy drawing with their colored pencils.

.

After a while of watching pointless Mettaton shows, you heard a knock at your door. Papyrus and the others came in with multiple plastic grocery bags. "Uh bro… Weren't you just gonna buy some butter?" Sans asked.

"Yeah, but there was a big sale going on! We couldn't just leave all that free food sitting there!" Undyne shouted, holding at least ten bags by herself.

"Well… it wasn't _free_ , but had a very high discounted price…" Alphys corrected. "Here is your butter." She handed you a small box of generic stick butter, and you handed it to Sans to open. You couldn't be too _handy_ with your one hand. Ha.

"So… how does this work?" Sans asked, and you realized you didn't actually know.

"Uh… Well you see… I never had to use butter to unstuck something before… I've only read about it." You say with a shrug. "They've always just… rubbed it on?" Sans didn't look reassured by that, but handed you the open stick of butter.

"Well… here goes nothing." You rubbed the butter the best you could around your wrist, trying to get some along the inside of the eye socket as well. Sans shuttered and you said quick apologies, and started pulling at your wrist.

"I think I feel it slipping?" You question, pulling a little harder. Suddenly strong arms appeared around your chest.

"Come on Papyrus! Grab your bro and pull!" Undyne shouted, and Papyrus reached around Sans and started pulling in the opposite direction.

"Aaah! Guys! Maybe we should-" 'POP!' A loud popping sound echoed around the room as you were suddenly released from Sans's eye socket, falling back on top of Undyne. You heard the skeleton brothers collide against the other wall, before Papyrus let out a victory 'NYEH HE HE!"

"It worked!" You cheered, relieved to have your hand free and no longer need to hold it at awkward angles.

"Surprisingly." Sans said, standing up and wiping at the butter on his face. "I'll get cleaned up."

"And I'll make everyone some lunch, since we have plenty of food now." You said, standing and helping Undyne up from the ground. "Any suggestions?"

"SPAGHETTI!" Papyrus shouted at full volume.

"We've been having that a lot the past few days… Someone else?" You ask again.

"SPAGHETTI!" Undyne shouted slightly louder.

"Er…" You look at Alphys, hoping she'd want anything else.

"I'm always game for spaghetti." She shrugged. You blinked, wondering what was up with these monsters and spaghetti.

"Alright… I'll make some spaghetti then." You laugh and made your way to the kitchen.

Sans walked out from the bathroom and sat with the others to watch some Mettaton while you cooked the incredibly easy meal. As you were turning the sauce off you felt a tug on your shirt, and you turned to see Frisk looking up at you and holding a drawing up. There was a golden flower with a smiley face surrounded by dozens of other golden flowers in a cave of some sort. Though that wasn't what caught your attention. For the first time since meeting Frisk, they looked at you with their eyes fully open.

Their irises were the most beautiful red you've ever seen.


	21. Bored Day

"Frisk… You _are_ human, right?" The question left your mouth before you had a chance to catch yourself. You were probably too distracted by the absolute red of their eyes. It felt like you were getting trapped in all of the different shades, you couldn't look away.

Until of course, Frisk closed their eyes in a smile, tilting their head slightly. You came to your senses. "I-I mean! I've never seen a human with red eyes before. Everyone said you were the human child to save the monsters, but…" You trail off, not sure what to think. You heard albinos sometimes have red eyes, but far as you could tell Frisk wasn't an albino. You sure hope you weren't offending the child with your question, you meant it honestly.

They simply smiled without giving you an answer; now keeping their eyes closed, and walked off towards the others. You had a weird feeling in your gut, but you couldn't describe it. Everything just didn't seem right.

Until of course, the water boiled over the pot.

The pops and hisses of boiling water got your attention and you quickly grabbed a wooden spoon to shut it up. You focused on the boiling spaghetti, trying to make it to Papyrus's standards (not very hard at all, to be honest), though soon enough your thoughts drifted again.

Red eyes. You felt like you've seen them before. _Red_ _eyes_. God, it was bothering you. When you tried remembering, the color orange followed with it. Maybe a sunset? You tried thinking a little deeper, maybe you could get some details. Tiled floors? A knife.

You paused mid-stir, suddenly remembering the image. Red eyes looking through a dusty reflection of a knife. Where this image came from, you couldn't remember, but the thought of it shook you to your core. The image was crystal clear in your mind, however that's all it was. Nothing more to the… memory? Dream? It surely didn't belong to you if it was a memory. It felt so out of place being in your head.

Finally managing to drop the thought, you mentally slap yourself back to attention to the task at hand. Your mind has been getting the better of you lately, you noticed. You needed to focus more if you wanted to train properly and get strong enough to not be afraid of Flowey. That stupid flower got himself under your skin, literally, and you felt like you just couldn't shake that fear. He's just a flower… Maybe you should bring a lighter with you everywhere you go? That'd help with some of the nerves at least.

Using your free hand, you quickly searched the drawer next to the oven. Thankfully your old roommate smoked (only outside the building was the agreement, of course), so when they vanished they probably left a lighter if they left most of their clothes like they did... Ah ha! You looked at the simple metal lighter, noticing a little skull-and-crossbones pattern engraved on the sides. A classic, but at the same time you cant help but think it's a bit ironic given your company at the moment.

Flicking it open and starting it to make sure it works, a small blue/yellow flame appeared. Satisfied, you snapped it shut and tucked it into your pocket. Not sure how handy it will be in the future, but it's something. You quickly finish stirring the pasta and dump out the water, ready for the food and something else to think about.

"Food's ready." You turn and say, getting everyone's attention from the TV. Grabbing some plates and silverware out of the cabinets for everyone, you grabbed yourself a serving and headed to the living room.

"Very well done! Congratulations, Human! Your spaghetti skills are close to competing against mine!" Papyrus excitedly declared, grabbing a rather large amount for himself despite not having any actual stomach. Undyne grabbed a serving big enough for two of her, and Alphys filled her plate as much as you would expect an overweight dinosaur to. Frisk even had a decent pile large as your own, shockingly. Thank goodness you were smart enough to make the entire box. The only one that didn't take that much was Sans, who barely took enough for three bites. He must be just being polite, since you didn't remember him actually eating any of the last spaghetti either.

You wondered if the skeleton brothers even _needed_ to eat. Did they enjoy it enough to make it a mandatory thing for them? That would be pretty interesting. Most of the time they don't have a tongue, so that means they probably wouldn't taste the food either. You blinked out of your thoughts, and found your place along with the others to enjoy the meal.

The six of you sat in the living room, you and Sans sitting on the floor, and started watching Mettaton on the TV. Hm, apparently your spaghetti skills _were_ getting better. Sure, you added a little extra seasoning this time, but you didn't think it would make this much of a difference. You smiled to yourself at the thought.

"Something funny?" Sans asked, seeming to catch your smile.

"Oh, just thinking about how often spaghetti will be a meal in this apartment now." You laughed a little, running a hand through your hair. "Not that I mind, it really is an easy meal." You quickly add, not wanting to be taken in the wrong way.

"Indeed! Therefor it is an easy meal to improve and master!" Papyrus agreed. Before you could say anything in response, the lights and TV suddenly turned black.

"Uh… shoot. Power went out." You looked around in the darkness, hoping that your eyes would adjust quickly enough. There didn't seem to be any light outside, though you finally noticed the slight sound of rain beating against the apartment. "Was it raining when you guys came back?" You asked Undyne and Papyrus, though they shook their head.

"No, but it was starting to get dark." Alphys answered. The rain rolled in quick then. You reached for the lighter in your pocket, though you wouldn't know what to do after that. The only candles you had were a few miniature ones in the bathroom…

"Well SCREW THIS! Not everyone is lucky enough to see in the dark!" Undyne shouted, and suddenly bright cyan lit up the room. She was holding a glowing spear made of magic, which she lifted up above her head.

"Wait! Don't stab the-" Undyne immediately pound the spear into the floor besides the couch, cutting off your concerns. Man… you really needed to get some insurance around these guys… You noticed Sans straining his smile a bit, apparently thinking the same thing.

"Well, now that we have light… We need some entertainment." Sans said, drawing your attention away from the new apartment damage. "You have any cards, or games?"

"I think I have monopoly in my closet somewhere, that should give enough time for the power to come back." You suggest, and everyone nodded. "I'll grab it then." You quickly got up and to your room, digging around your closet before eventually coming across the long white box with bold red lettering. Wow, this was an old copy, and not even the original game like you thought. It was a version consisting of only horses. Well, it's the same rules anyway you figured, and brought the box out.

.

After a few close calls of nearly going bankrupt, you somehow ended up winning the most money and buying all the lots. You knew buying the last two horses on the board would be worth it in the end, even if Sans occasionally teased you with his "get out of jail free" card every time you ended back in there as broke as you were for the first half of the game.

Papyrus was the first to go bankrupt, since he wanted to buy every horse he landed on, and refused to put barns on the sets he owned since he knew that'd just make you pay more if you landed on it. Apparently he wasn't very good at being heartless, and you found that adorable in the skeleton. Undyne was next to go bankrupt, followed by Alphys and Sans. Not speaking a word, Frisk was the one winning for most of the game until they landed on your fully decked out final horse, bankrupting them. They seemed sad about loosing, but they accepted it quickly enough with a smile and thumbs up to you.

The power came back on half way through the game, but of course you guys couldn't leave the game unfinished. This of course meant that by the time you finally won, everyone was dead tired and ready to pass out.

Papyrus's solution was to have a sleepover for the others, since he didn't want them out late. He dragged out the bed mattress from the spare room and put it beside the couch, and showed the other's your ex-roommate's dresser so they could all get pajamas. Poor Frisk was stuck with a terribly oversized t-shirt, but they didn't complain.

Sans and yourself went back to your room. As much as you'd love to have a sleepover with all the monsters and Frisk, you felt like sleeping in your room for tonight. Besides, you wouldn't have been able to fit in the living room with them either, never mind Sans. You weren't about to go through the trouble of moving your mattress tonight.

Sans left the room to let you change, and by the time he came back in you were already face down in a pillow, sinking ever slowly into the mattress. He laughed before settling in next to you. Man… he was so warm. You quickly rolled around and draped an arm over him, trying to steal some of his heat. He didn't mind, and gave you a squeeze.

How long have you guys known each other? It couldn't have been very long at all, but the past… week? Two? The days just all ran together, and it felt like much longer than what it probably had been. The fact you were sleeping with Sans so casually now… It made you smile a bit. You felt Sans look down at you, grinning a little himself.

"You feeling good?" He asked. You nod and give a little hum, enjoying a moment, but had a slight ping of guilt appeared in your gut. You lied about earlier. About Flowey. Sans deserves to know, and you knew it. Sure, he had his own secrets, ones plenty dangerous as well, but if you asked he usually told you _something_.

You lie there for a moment, staring at the wall past his ribs, replaying the events of the day in your mind. How Flowey waved you over as if you were a friend, or… you thought more about the expression he wore before his face distorted. It seemed more of a forced smile, now that you focused on it. It looked exactly like the one you gave a puppy that you were trying to help train years ago.

Shuttering at the thought, Sans seemed to notice how deep in your thoughts you were. "Hey… You okay?" He asked, shifting to his side to better look at you. You swallowed, trying to stop your buzzing mind before looking up at him.

"I realized I never actually… _thanked_ you for getting that seed out of me." You say, noticing that it startled Sans.

"What brought this on?" He asked, concerned. You told yourself earlier you didn't want to tell him what happened at the park… but it was dangerous not to. As much as you loved that park and wanted to keep training there, all it would take is a single vulnerable moment, and the seed incident could happen all over again. Or worse. You weren't about to let your selfishness be a plot point of some amateur author's stupid story.

"I saw Flowey."

Sans Froze. "Like… in the kid's drawing?" He asked, forcing a shaky smile and hoping for the best. You shook your head, and watched the smile immediately drop. His eyes watched you carefully.

"At the park. When we were leaving I looked back to see what I tripped on during the fight, and I saw Flowey there." You couldn't meet his eyes. What was he thinking now? You purposely didn't tell him about it earlier, not that it has been terribly long, but you had a chance to tell him and you didn't take it. No, you blatantly _lied_ to him and he trusted you enough not to dig further. Would you loose his trust? You bit your lip, looking further down the bed. Sans's hands appeared around your shoulders, pushing you back a little as he sat up.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, voice quiet but not angry. Not yet.

"I… I wanted to keep training at the park. It's one of my favorite spots to go, and I was afraid that if I told you Flowey was there, you'd never let me be there again." You answer honestly, still avoiding eye contact. Were you judging him wrong? Would he actually keep you away from that place because of a possible danger? Why were you so worried about what he thought anyway? Your mind scrambled to one thought after another, anxiety clearly having a party in your head.

"Hey its… its okay." Sans brought a hand to your cheek, lifting your face to see his. He looked concerned, but in no way angry like you were worried he'd be. His fingers rubbed soothingly along your jawline and cheek for a moment, before bringing his forehead to yours. "I'm not going to stop you from training… but you were right about me not wanting you to go to the park."

He pulled back a little, making sure you had eye contact. "Flowey isn't something to mess with." Your breath got caught in your throat. He really was cutting you off from the park. "We'll keep to training in other places though, if you still want to continue." Sans said, looking almost hopeful at the end.

"Of course." You answer, watching Sans's expression falter just for a split second. He… didn't want you to train?

"Right, well, get a good night's rest then. We can bring Bro to the beach tomorrow, and hopefully get some good time in." He rubbed your arms slightly, and laid back down on the bed. You have a moment of uncertainty, but you lay back in the bed anyway.

Soon enough you were getting cold, so you wrapped up around Sans to try and get warm again.

.

You wake up with a pounding heart, bolting up from the bed. You looked around the dark room, eyes quickly adjusting to the blue glow from your clock and orange nightlight. You couldn't remember your dream, but you felt like your heart was ready to explode from the stress of it.

"Ugh…" You mumbled into your hand, rubbing your eyes before looking back at Sans. He was still asleep, snoring ever so slightly. At least you didn't wake him up, you said a silent thanks and slipped out of the bed. You opened the door as quietly as you could, making your way down the hall and to the bathroom, closing the door without the loud click. You took a deep breath, soaking in the darkness of the bathroom. The cold air of the apartment helped your heart slow down a bit, but not enough to calm your nerves. You splashed your face with water, counted to ten, and rubbed your temples. Something felt off… but you couldn't place it.

"Stupid nerves." You muttered, looking at yourself through the mirror. The light was still off, so your reflection was mostly hidden. The nightlight by the light switch was bright enough to see the outline of your face features at least. You rubbed your cheeks, squishing them slightly to attempt to release some of your jitteriness. Last time you felt like this antsy it ended up being Soul sick… You paused, looking at your chest.

Sans said not to look at your Soul without him close by… but he was asleep. What if Flowey did something before you got knocked out in your training session with Papyrus? You immediately brought a hand in front of your chest, concentrating and pulling a fist away. The world spun around you for a moment as your chest felt too tight, before a quiet popping sound echoed around the tiny room, and you fell back against the wall.

"Ooph…" You rubbed the back of your head, pushing yourself off of the wall and looking up to see the floating red heart hovering between you and the reflection. It looked normal. You sighed with relief, grabbing the Soul carefully. You felt the telltale pressure around your body as you gripped the Soul, though you were careful to avoid the blue band and the white scar on it. You didn't want to risk touching them. Last time you touched the blue part, Sans thought you were getting attacked. Last thing you wanted was him to wake up thinking that.

You gave one of the bumps on top of the heart a slight squeeze, feeling the Soul squish almost like jell under your fingertips, and feeling like someone grabbing your left shoulder tightly. You quickly released the heart, watching it drop a couple inches before slowly floating back into place in front of your chest. You smiled to yourself, taking two fingers and thumb and pushing it away from you, feeling an almost… resistance? You let go and it quickly floated back into its default spot.

You were enjoying the experimental time with your Soul, especially since Sans usually tried to get it back in you as soon as possible. Sure, it was sensitive, but you weren't about to let it anything happen to it if you could help it. You just wanted to know more about it in general. Before the monsters showed up, a Soul was a concept rather than a physical… thing. Who could blame you for testing it out?

That got you thinking… You did have time to experiment, it wasn't like you would be able to sleep any time soon… You turned the sink on a little, getting a few drops of water onto your hand. You knew what hands felt like if they grabbed your Soul, but what about other things? You moved your hand to be above your soul, and let some water drip down onto it.

You sharply gasped, reeling back and bumping into the wall again. It felt like someone just poured a cup of water down your back, but at the same time it felt so different and _weird_.

"Okay… enough experimentation." You quietly say to yourself, shivering slightly and wiping at the back of your neck, even though there wasn't actually any water there. You looked back at your Soul, which was just casually floating in front of your chest again. Grabbing it lightly again, you turned it around in your hands to look at it closer again. It looked so… nice. Especially without the seed stuck in it, that's for sure.

Man, you couldn't wait to train enough to be confident against Flowey. Maybe after a few Undyne sessions you'll be able to go back to the park without being afraid of that stupid flower. You smiled to your reflection, imaging the day. The red light of your Soul shifted to a lighter tone, making you look down at it. It's once solid red color became clouded with light orange colors, though it didn't look… wrong. You watched it, curious for a moment, before it slowly faded back to Red.

You didn't know it could change colors! You carefully grabbed it again, bringing it up so you could look at it better, and started waiting. Something would happened if you waited long enough… There it was! The color got clouded again, but this time turning to a light blue. You felt excitement fill you as you watched the change, and you felt like a kid with those "mood changing" rings. As your excitement rose, the blue color faded back to the solid red. You wondered what the colors meant, maybe you could ask Sans about it later.

But for now, maybe you should head back to bed… You noticed a slight headache forming in the back of your head, probably from bumping it against the wall earlier, you figure. You must have woken someone up doing that as well, since it sounded like someone in the living room was watching TV quietly now… at least you think. You couldn't recognize anything being said. You could swear it was getting louder though.

Not paying attention to the background noise, you grabbed the heart and got ready to shove it back into your chest, pausing when you felt your thumbs stick to it. You pulled the Soul away and looked at it, noticing a black color bubbling up from the sides of the glowing blue band. You pulled your thumbs away from the Soul, watching as thick inkiness trailed from your thumbs to your soul, dripping slightly. You breathed heavily, feeling the strange sensation of… something at your sides.

This… This wasn't normal… You swallowed and looked up at your reflection, noticing a white, cracked face hovering above yours, darkness towering behind you, and pale hands with holes resting on your shoulders.

The figure smiled at you, and the whispering grew louder.


	22. Tense Day

_'Don't scream. Don't scream. Scream and you wake everyone up_ ,' you thought to yourself as you stared wide-eyed at the pale face through the reflection. A slight static feeling took over your limbs as you stared into the hollow eyes of the creature, numbness crawling through your system. This was wrong. It shouldn't be here. You should be screaming and trying to get away from the thing, not blankly staring at it. You should _feel_ _something_.

The face looked at you calmly through the reflection, adjusting the position of his hands on your shoulders. His smile dropped slightly and he tilted his head, slowly reaching out a hand towards your Soul. You looked away from the reflection and saw a ghostly pale, holed hand and darkness reaching above your arm.

That was it. You are unable to completely suppress your small yelp as you turn around, banging your hip against the counter to face… nothing. You exhale, frozen in place, staring at where the figure should have been. It was _right there_. You quickly glanced into the mirror, seeing only you and your perfectly fine glowing red Soul. All of your nerves suddenly collapsed as you violently shook, hugging yourself and trying to stop yourself from hyperventilating. You looked down at the floating heart, which was also trembling slightly, and grab it again. You pressed where the black inkiness was a moment ago, only to find normal red Soul squish under your thumbs, and feel a pressure at your sides. You immediately push the Soul back into your body, suddenly very aware of how dangerous it is to keep it out. Shivering and still unable to quite catch your breath, you leaned against the counter as feelings returned to your limbs, leaving the tingly static feel at your fingertips. The nightlight seemed to be getting ever so slightly brighter, and your fear slightly stronger. You dug your nails into your hands for a moment to drive off the numbness, and to try and settle your shakiness.

Maybe that's why Sans wants you to keep your soul in you… Have it out too long and you start seeing things like… that. You had it out much longer for the fight practice though. That doesn't make sense. Ugh, your headache was getting even worse trying to figure it out.

You thickly swallow and try to get your breathing under control, along with your racing heart. You were just tired, obviously. Your brain was just messing with you. Yeah, everything was fine. You are pretty sure you heard that if someone stares at a mirror long enough in the dark their mind makes things appear, so that's clearly what happened. You nod to yourself, forcing your breathing to slow down until you could actually take a deep breath. You splashed your face again, carefully looking at the mirror and behind you one last time before turning to the door.

Being extra careful while handling the doorknob, you opened and closed the door slow enough to avoid the squeak and without its usual clicking into place. If you didn't wake up the others with your bumping around and yelping in the bathroom already, you didn't want to wake them up now. You looked up as you turned the corner, finding yourself face-to-face with that cracked smile.

You yelled.

No longer concerned about waking the others up, you yelled and fell back, landing hard on your rear. The whispering got louder as the cracked face looked down at you, a frown appearing as his holed hands reached out for you. You scrambled back, slipping on the smooth floor with your socks, before finally managing to stand up and run out of the hallway and into the spare room. You needed a weapon. Something. _Anything_. You remembered a bat by the dresser.

Your feet felt heavier than usual but you paid them no mind, keeping your eyes trained on the dim outline of your roommate's wooden bat through the dark. You blinked, and the thing was standing in front of you again, directly in your path to your weapon, tilting its head and frowning even more. You skid on your feet and scramble backwards, just avoiding collision with the intruder, and fell back into the closet. You manage to scratch the sliding door shut before collapsing against it, knocking over some hanging clothes in the process.

Breathing heavily, you bring your hands up to clutch at your head, but the numbness was coming back, and you dug your nails into the palms to try to keep it at bay. Vaguely aware of someone shouting your name, you curled tighter into yourself, trying to think clearly. That thing just _appeared_ in front of you. It was trying to touch you. It did something to your Soul earlier. _You could still hear the whispering_. You covered your ears, trying to shut the whispers out, only to find them just as loud. They weren't _real_. You hummed into your knees, trying to drown out the incomprehensible sounds.

Suddenly orange light surrounded you, and you fell into the air where the sliding door was. A shadow crossed in front of your view, and you immediately grabbed a shoe to use as a weapon. You raised it high and froze, seeing Undyne looking down at you from above.

"Human…? Are you…" She started, looking confused.

The whispering was gone, along with the numbness. The amount of relief you felt was immeasurable, and you dropped the shoe. "Did you see it?" You asked, your voice shaky and uneven as you carefully got to all fours.

"It?" You heard Alphys ask, and she peaked at you from under Undyne's arm. You heard other feet walking into the room, one set slightly more rushed than the other. The girl monsters were pulled back, and Sans came into view.

"What happened?" Sans asked quietly, kneeling down. His hand came up towards your face, and you knew he meant it as a soothing gesture, but for a moment you thought you saw a hole in the white bone palm. You immediately jump back to your feet, startling the others and end up hitting your head on the clothing bar. You hiss and grab at the top of your head, slouching to avoid the bar.

"Ah…" You keep your eyes closed for a moment, focusing on the pain and how real and how _solid_ it felt. It… felt good. Feeling the pain almost made you feel braver, knowing that the numbness wasn't there. "Somebody was here, another monster." You said, finally opening your eyes but keeping your hands pressed to the top of your head.

"No one was here when we got here…" Undyne said, looking concerned at Alphys. Sans's eyes widened slightly, looking back at the room.

"We just woke up from you yelling in the dark… Are you sure you weren't dreaming?" Alphys asked, and you shook your head, unable to look at any of them directly.

"What did they look like?" Sans asked, turning back to you, worry crossing his features. He believed you. You swallowed, thinking back to the mirror.

"Tall. Taller than Undyne. White hands and face, black nothingness for a body." You started, bringing your hands down from your head and suppressing a shiver. Just thinking about the creature made your skin crawl. The darkness that made up its body looked like it was _moving_. "Its hands were messed up, holes in them or something, and its face was broken." You traced a small circle on your palm to show them, and lightly dragged your fingers on your face to match the cracks. You blinked, startling yourself when you realized the mirror and hall faces had cracks in the same place, like the mirror wasn't actually reflecting.

Sans's face paled, somehow, recognizing what you described. Alphys looked startled, but Undyne just looked confused. "Let's get you something hot to drink, and something for your head." Sans said, slowly offering a hand to you. You nod, watching the hand carefully before accepting it, and stepping fully out of the closet. He and the others led you to the living room, Papyrus quickly making room on the mattress on the floor for you to sit.

You sat down, feeling much heavier than before, and much calmer already thanks to everyone's efforts. Alphys grabbed a bag of frozen corn from your freezer, handing it to you to hold on your head. That felt better.

"What kind of tea you want?" Undyne asked from the kitchen, and you noticed that she was boiling you some water.

"Er… I'll try the purple one you got me." You had no idea what kind of tea Undyne bought you, but it did smell good.

"Good choice." Undyne approved, and dropped the bag into one of your oversized mugs.

As she mixed the tea for you, the others were rather… quiet. You did just wake everyone up, you figure, but it felt awkward. Luckily Frisk sat in front of you and started making signs with her hands.

"Frisk asks if you are okay." Sans translated for you, relieving you some of your confusion.

"Oh, thank you. I, uh, I'm much better now, actually. Still a little shaken up, and my head still hurts, but I'm good." You were actually shocking yourself by how quick your recovery was.

"Excitement just follows you everywhere, doesn't it?" Alphys gave a light laugh, trying to ease the awkwardness in the room. "H-how is your Soul holding together, by the way?" Alphys asked, seeming to just remember the last time she was at your place.

"Oh, uh, pretty good?" You didn't really know how to answer. "I mean, it's still red and stuff. Though earlier it was changing colors-"

"What?" Sans asked, startled.

"I… Oh. I looked at my Soul without you, a little while ago. Before the monster showed up." You explained, realizing that you already said too much to go back. "I was worried that Flowey did something again since I was feeling off, so just took a quick look at it. It stayed red most of the time, but then it changed colors."

Alphys nodded. "Human Souls do that. The colors represent different traits a human has, though most of the time they keep to one color." Huh, so that explains the mood changing Soul. "… Did you say you looked at your Soul without help?" Alphys slowly asked, slightly tilting her head.

"Er… Yeah. It looked easy enough, all you guys do is basically 'force grab' at it or whatever." You made the motion while looking at Alphys, and Frisk gasped in front of you. There was a small pop sound, and when you turned to face them a small red heart was floating between you two.

All of the monsters gasped and took a step back, the room immediately becoming dead quiet other than the sound of boiling water. Frisk looked shocked, quickly grabbing their Soul and pressing it back into their chest. A few sighs were heard and the monsters seemed to relax a bit, though there was even more awkwardness hanging in the room.

"Oh sorry, Frisk. I didn't actually mean to try it." You apologize, bringing your hands together to your chest. They bit their lip, nodding a little before getting up and sitting on the couch, away from your front.

"You… actually _can_ do that." Alphys was wide-eyed and staring at your hands. "That… that should be impossible. You are a _human_." A small smile made its way on her face. "That is amazing! We need to do tests! When Sans did that with your Soul I would never had-"

Sans coughed, getting Alphys to stop her excited dialogue. "Right, I would prefer if we didn't do tests on my Vertebae, if that's alright with you. Maybe we should focus on the issue at hand?" He asked, rubbing a hand over his skull as if he was pushing through hair. Alphys nodded, and Sans looked a little relieved to get off the testing subject. He turned to you. "Was there anything that happened before you saw G- uh, the monster? Did you see gray doors? Floating symbols of a sort? Hear… voices?" He asked, strangely specific.

"Well, when I was looking at my Soul, what looked like black ink was leaking from it? Super sticky, and when I touched it, it felt really… weird." You couldn't do anything more to describe it. "Then I heard whispering, and the broken face thing showed up." You explained. Undyne poured the boiling water into the mug, and brought the tea over to you.

"You said ink was coming from your Soul?" Alphys asked, and you nodded and accepted the tea from Undyne. "Maybe we should give you a little extra Determination… This might just be one of the side effects of what Sans did, and Determination could help your body through it." Alphys looked at Sans, waiting for his approval.

"Yeah, let's grab some real quick. Undyne, Frisk, stay here and keep Vertebae awake. Bro, lets grab some stuff from our old place." Sans said, waving over Papyrus to him.

"Wait! Aren't you guys forgetting something? A monster was in my apartment!" You stood up, and the frozen corn fell off your head.

"That's why we are leaving Undyne here. Don't worry, we'll be back soon and I'll explain more then." Sans said, patting your arm reassuringly. God, you hated it when he played vague with you.

He and the others left the apartment, leaving you, Undyne, and Frisk. Deciding to take the opportunity while you have it, you turned to Undyne.

"So, Undyne, did Sans tell you that I was training with Papyrus?"

"What? No, that loser didn't say anything to me!" She immediately looked angry, a cyan spear appearing in her fist. "That little punk should have asked me to help out!"

"That's why I'm asking you!" You quickly interject in her anger, hoping she wasn't about to spear anything. She looked interested, her aggressiveness calming down ever so slightly. "Training with Papyrus is fun and all, but I can tell he is still going light on me. Tomorrow I'll be training at the beach, but you can totally show up if you want and help out." Sans would not like this, but you needed more pressure. Papyrus was great for your first session day, but you could already tell that you were getting used to his patterns. You doubted Undyne would go easy on you, even if you asked.

"Sure thing punk! I'll knock the snot out of you!" She cheered, punching her hand and giving you a toothy smile. Welp. You were probably going to regret that request.

"But first, let me find my anime shows for tonight, we need to be properly pumped up for tomorrow. I think they are in my bag." She said, quickly heading to the hallway. A moment later you could hear some sort of attempt at singing some upbeat tune from the spare room as the sound of things being moved around carried through the hallway.

You sit back down on the mattress, finally sipping your tea. Ouch, still hot. Still, tasted really good so far.

Frisk sat beside you on the mattress, tilting their head at you,

"Hey, still sorry about the Soul thing, I didn't mean to pull at yours." You said, still feeling guilty. Frisk shook their head, signing a bit. You smile and rub at your head. "Uh, sorry. Still cant understand." They made a face, seeming to think for a moment before making a heart with both of their hands in front of their chest, pointing to you, and signing something very slowly. You could recognize the second letter being almost a fist, meaning 'A', and the last letter being "R" with crossed fingers. The letters in between looked like very slightly different fists, but for the life of you, you couldn't remember what they were. You bit your lip for a moment, trying to guess what they were spelling, but gave up. "Sorry, still don't know."

Frisk give a huff, making a heart with their hands again, and repeating it, pointing to you, and looking confused. "Oh! You want to see my Soul?" You asked, and Frisk paused, tilting their head this way and that before finally nodding. Looked like it wasn't what they actually asked for, but would work either way. You smiled, bringing a hand to your chest and making a fist, pulling your Soul out.

It seemed like every time you did that it got easier, less of a kick to the chest and more of a struggled moment of breathing. You looked at your floating Soul, happy that there was no blackness dripping from it. When you looked up at Frisk, you jumped a little seeing their red eyes wide open, staring at your Soul.

"What the-?!" They shouted, jumping to their feet and stumbling backwards. Your mouth fell open.

"Wait, you can _talk_?!" You asked, equally as shocked. Frisk's sharp red eyes looked at you angrily, and you immediately shut your mouth.

"Of course _I_ can! But what is _wrong_ with you?!" They waved their arms around. Their voice didn't sound like it belonged to the child. "You shouldn't be alive!"

"…What?" You felt confused. Frisk grumbled, grabbing at their hair.

"It's broken! You should be dead!" They motioned to your Soul, and you looked at it again. Sure, there was a white crack going down the middle, the halves held together by the blue band, but you wouldn't go as far as to say you should be dead because of it…

"What did they _do_ to you?!" Frisk looked horrified, but slowly becoming interested, a new shine in their eyes. "Was this what Sans did?" They asked.

For some reason, you really didn't want to answer the child. Their eyes wouldn't leave your Soul, and you were starting to get uncomfortable with it. You grabbed the floating heart and stuffed it back into your chest, once again noticing how blue Frisk's sweater actually was, and how chilly the room is. Frisk stood there for a moment, before shaking their head and closing their eyes again.

"Who wants to re-watch One Punchhh?" Undyne asked, walking into the room and holding a dvd case above her head. She paused. "Oh, did I interrupt?"

Frisk shook their head, turning and signing some things to Undyne. She laughed. "Of course! Sans' human probably never watched them from the beginning." That caught you off guard.

"Wait, what? ' _Sans' human'_? I have a name, you know."

"So does Frisk, but 'Human' is just easier to say." Undyne shrugged, obviously not seeing anything wrong with it. "Besides, I feel weird whenever I say your name." She tested it, saying your name and repeating it. "See? Like that. It's like I can't quite say it right. Human is just easier." She shrugged, putting in the dvd.

The 'human' part wasn't the part that made you uncomfortable, but the dvd selection screen came up, and so you turned your attention back to the TV. The anime started up and immediately caught your interest. You tried to stay focused on the show, sipping at your tea, but you couldn't help but to notice every once in a while Frisk would open their eyes wide with a smile.

You also couldn't help but to notice they only did so when someone killed a monster.


	23. Fight Day

"Huuuuuuuuumannnnnnn! We have returned!" Papyrus's sing-song voice announced as the door slammed open, startling you, Frisk, and Undyne at the same time. You watched as the other monsters entered your apartment, though what really caught your attention with the vial of something glowing red in Alphys's hands.

"How are you feeling?" Sans asked, walking up to you and quickly looking you over. Undyne grumbled as he passed in front of the TV, and she promptly paused the anime. You usually would have laughed at the awkward face the character was making, but you were too distracted.

"Uh, pretty good. Haven't seen any more monsters. Other than you guys, of course." You rub at the back of your head, not sure if that response was appropriate. "I am feeling a bit tired now though, so there's that." Sans considered a moment before turning to Papyrus, giving him a nod.

"Right, then let's fill you with some Determination." He held out a hand to you, which you took. Helping you up, he led you to the bedroom with Alphys following. You glanced back and saw the other monsters and Frisk getting comfortable on the floor mattress, continuing the anime without you. Damn, you were really enjoying it, too.

"Here, sit down." Sans led you to the bed, and you did as told. You couldn't help but to get a little nervous looking at the red vial in Alphys hands. She adjusted her grip, pulling out a needle. Oh boy.

"We are just going to give you a small dose this time. Hopefully it will make your Soul more stable. You most likely still have some Determination in your system, so we don't want to give you too much. I'm not sure what the results would be for a human…" Alphys said, prepping the needle. Thank goodness she was wearing her doctor coat, or else you would have been slightly more concerned that you were going to let a monster stick you with a needle. Scratch that. Wait a minute, how in the world-

"U-uh, before we do that!" You bring your arms closer to yourself, turning to face Sans. "Mind telling me what exactly I saw before? You recognized what I described."

Sans was silent for a moment, before inhaling a breath. "Gaster. Remember him?" You did. Memories of Sans turning into that massive beast flashed in your mind, making the stitches on your arms itch. Gaster was one of Sans' brothers. The one who took a human Soul.

"Yeah." You say, nodding. "I thought you said Gaster was a brother, wouldn't he be a skeleton? What I saw… it wasn't a skeleton."

"That's a long story. In short, that was Gaster. When I tied your Soul, a little bit of Gaster must have snuck into it as well. Or… something. We haven't exactly figured out how human Souls react to this kind of magic." You knew he was trying to answer you, but you felt like you had even more questions now.

"It's possible that it's just some memory sneaking through, but that's also what the Determination is for. The more human you are, the less monster Souls will affect you. Or so we assume." Alphys added.

"Wait… Tied my soul? Monster Souls? The blue band is part of your _Soul_!?" You felt your eyes widen as you looked at Sans, realizing that his Soul was also blue, but you never made the connection until now.

"It's more complicated than that, but essentially… yes. As long as my Soul remains intact, your Soul won't… break." He looked away at the last part.

"But won't you get hurt if I get hurt? That seems like its-"

"Dangerous? Nah, I can only feel things through the tie if it's directly on it, but I'd only feel it. Nothing will break that band, so I don't have to worry." He seemed relieved at the last part as much as you were. Man… he seemed like such a strong monster, but if he was really worried about getting hurt through your Soul as well, that must mean there are even stronger monsters out there.

"It would be best to avoid dependence on the tie, however. So, expose a shoulder for me." Alphys said, stepping forward.

You hesitated a moment, taking a breath before doing as told. Alphys wiped your shoulder with a small wet cloth, and you looked away as she pressed the needle into you.

"Ahhh… is it supposed to feel that warm?" You asked, feeling the warmth build up uncomfortably in your shoulder.

"That's raw Determination, so yes." You felt the needle pull out, though the warmth was only getting hotter. "SpongeBob or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?" She asked, and you felt confused. You swallowed, feeling like you were sweating.

"Uh, the Turtles…" You looked over to her, seeing her pull out a band aid. Michelangelo was on it. Nice.

She carefully stuck the band aid onto where you got the shot, though you don't think you were really bleeding enough to need one. In all honesty, it felt like you just got a flu shot. Other than being so damn _hot_.

"Are you okay?" Sans asked, pressing a hand to your forehead. His normally warm bones seemed chilly against your skin for once. "You're pretty hot…"

"You could say that again." You laughed, fanning yourself with your hand. "I'm very, _very_ warm right now." You take a few breaths as if you were exercising, trying to cool off. It wasn't working.

"Could be a reaction of having too much determination in their system." Alphys said quickly, pulling out a stethoscope from her bag. Funny, you assumed she wouldn't have once since monsters didn't have internal organs. "Determination must last longer than we assumed."

"Oh boy. I think I need-" You flopped backwards as the world spun around you, growing dark towards the edges of your vision.

"Hey! Hold on! Try to stay awake for me, okay?" Sans voice seemed just a bit too loud. You wanted to say something back, but it was too hot… too dizzying to respond. The world faded out until only a golden star filled your vision.

.

You are filled with DETERMINATION.

.

You gasped awake, sitting upright in your bed. Sans startled from the chair beside the bed, looking up from his book. He immediately jumped out of the chair and to your side, placing a hand on your shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Sans asked, concerned. You sat there for a moment, mentally checking yourself over. A smile made its way to your lips.

"I am so much better than okay!" You hop to your feet, feeling a rush of excitement surge through you. "I feel like I can take on anyone! What is in that- Hold on I need a mirror! Last time you guys pumped me full of this stuff I-" You turned to your dresser, seeing yourself through the mirror. "Now _that's_ what I'm talking about!" Rushing over to it, you immediately started looking yourself over. Holy shit, you just looked so _healthy_! And rather attractive, you might even add. Determination was one hell of a drug, you laughed to yourself.

"Slow down there! You've been asleep for a while, I don't want you hurting yourself-" Sans started, but you interrupted him with a big hug, picking him up and spinning him around. He was normally lighter than what you expected, being a skeleton and all, but it seemed like picking him up was even easier than before.

"Nonsense! I feel great! Lets get to training!" You said excitedly, putting down Sans.

"U-uh… How 'bout some breakfast first?" He suggested, and your stomach responded with a loud growl.

"Right… Fine, quick breakfast, then we can train!" You felt so pumped up for today, nothing was going to ruin your mood!

.

After eating a _very_ quick breakfast, you and the skeleton brothers headed to the beach. Apparently it was already noon, so Undyne, Frisk, and Alphys had already headed back to their own place. That was alright, you expected to see Undyne later today anyway. Surprisingly enough, the beach felt mostly empty today, just a couple families chilling further along the shore. One of them left when they saw you and the monsters walk onto the beach, dragging their kids behind them.

"Now I want you to take it easy, okay? Determination is one heck of a boost, but I don't want you pushing yourself." Sans said as Papyrus took a few steps down the beach, getting ready for the training.

"No promises. I feel too pumped up to take anything easy right now. Besides, how am I supposed to learn if I don't push myself to the limits?" You asked, stretching out. Sans looked nervous at that.

"Well, pump it down, then. I don't want you getting hurt." He rephrased what he already said, making you roll your eyes.

"Thanks for the concern, Vertebae, but I can handle it. If not, you brought those Spider Goods for a reason." You quickly give him a kiss to his forehead, then gently push him away from the line of fire. "Okay Papyrus, let me have it!" You shouted, bending at the knees and ready to train.

Papyrus nodded, bringing a hand forward and pulling out your Soul, and you hardly felt its tug this time. Giving you a second to adjust, bones exploded out of the sand and started flying at you. You easily jumped and ducked around them, moving this way and that, freezing whenever a blue one flew at you.

You were getting good. Your long session yesterday must have taught you everything you needed to know from Papyrus, because dodging almost felt too easy now. Probably had to do with all the Determination in your system, but you couldn't but help to feel a bit more proud of yourself.

The training session went on for a while. Thankfully Sans didn't interrupt you this time, but your legs were getting sore from attempting to jump on the sand so often. "Faster." You shouted to Papyrus, feeling too used to his attack patterns. He went faster, but it wasn't enough. "Come on Paps! Give me more!" He seemed nervous, but did as you requested. More bones flew at you, some fast, some slow. You were dodging them all like they were nothing. "Give me a challenge-" Your feet slipped in the sand before you could finish your taunt, earning a fast bone to your side.

"You okay?!" Sans ran up to you as you lifted yourself up, rubbing your side slightly. You glanced down at your Soul, noticing just a little white bruise on the side of it.

"Perfect." You answer, straightening up. "Again." You said, readying your stance again.

"Don't you think it's time for a break?" Sans asked. "You've been at it for some time…" There he goes again.

"No, I'm making awesome progress! Look at this!" You grab your Soul and show it to him, proud of how red the Soul was.

"I think it could be better, wimp!" Undyne's voice shouted from the sidewalk, and you couldn't hold back your smile.

"Undyne!" You turned to her, feeling even more excited when you saw her wearing what looked to be running clothes. She looked ready for a proper workout. She gave you a toothy smile and ran down next to you, crossing her arms. "You ready for a real challenge, dork?"

"No, no, absolutely not!" Sans interjected, looking between you and Undyne, clearly not liking what the two of you had planned without him.

"Oh come on Sans, I'm ready to move on from Papyrus! Look at this, I basically have his attacks mastered by now." You say, pushing your Soul at him again.

"That's probably just because of the Determination!" Sans said, shaking his head. "Even so, you don't just go from Papyrus to Undyne! You are asking to get hurt!"

"Maybe I am?" You give a smile and take a few steps back, getting ready to fight with Undyne. "Getting hurt is a process of learning, especially when fighting."

"That's the spirit!" Undyne cheered, clearly agreeing with that philosophy. A glowing green spear appeared in her hands, and she tossed it to you. You almost missed, but you grabbed onto it, confused. You had no idea what type of fighting to expect, especially since she armed you.

"I said no!" Sans stepped between the two of you, and you couldn't help the sting of irritation building in your head.

"If I can't handle it, I'll say so." You said, readying the spear in front of you with both hands. "We can always back down later."

Sans looked like he was going to interject again, but Undyne summoned some cyan spears beside her. "Give us some room Sans, your human isn't going to turn to dust on my watch. Or… whatever humans do." Undyne spun a spear, smiling with her sharp teeth exposed. Sans hesitated, looking between the two of you and seeming very uncomfortable. You patiently waited, and he finally walked away from between the two of you.

"Okay punk, time to prove your bravery and face danger head on!" Undyne shouted, and a few of her spears floated up. Okay. Right. Don't get stabbed. You adjusted your grip on your spear, somewhat glad you didn't have to run around any more.

The blue spears flew at you in a single line, and you felt your heart skip a beat as you spun your spear at them, knocking them to the side. One, two- "Ouch." You flinch as a spear nicked your shoulder. You looked at your Soul, seeing a slight white scratch appear on it. "Again." You said before giving Sans the time to react, and you fixed your stance.

More spears came at you from the same angle, and you focused on your timing. Knock, knock, knock. Nailed it. Seemed soon as you knocked the spears they vanished, probably from the conflict of similar magic or something. Man, you felt smart when trying to figure these things out.

"Good job human, try to handle this!" Undyne shouted, more spears appeared beside her and rushed straight at you, which you easily blocked. Out of nowhere something slashed across your back, startling you.

"Let me go again." You said, ignoring the new white line appearing on your Soul. You saw Sans take a step forward, a flare of blue catching your attention for a split second. You blinked and suddenly more spears were shooting out at you, and you barely manage to knock the first two out of the air. Unfortunately they were faster than the previous ones, so the third, fourth, and fifth spears hit you from straight on and your sides. You felt like a rag doll getting knocked between them before falling hard on your rear, thankfully the sand provided some cushioning.

"That's it! We are done for today!" Sans shouted, stomping up between you and Undyne. You rolled your eyes again, quickly bringing your legs under you and standing.

"It's fine, Sans, this is great practice." You said quickly, trying to calm him down. You looked at your soul, noticing a lot more of it white rather than red. "I'll take a ten minute break and eat some spider goods, no big deal-"

"No, I said we are done today." He crossed his arms and looked at you, flaring your anger.

"What is with you?!" You shouted, stepping forward and startling him. "Why do you think you can control me? I am my own person before I am anyone else's, in case you had forgotten!" You declare, eyes flickering to Undyne. Her eyes widened slightly, lips pressing together, before awkwardly walking towards Papyrus.

"I'm not trying to control you! I'm just-"

"Yes you are!" You interrupt his defense, anger building even more. "Every time I try anything with other monsters you put limits, or try to stop me! Yes, I get it, _it's dangerous_. That is the entire point! If it wasn't dangerous, I wouldn't need to learn!" You step forward again.

Sans' eye flared for a moment before he took a step towards you as well. "You don't need to learn in the first place! You won't be getting into any monster fights anyway! And even if something came up, I'd be there to-"

"What? Protect me?! What happens when you aren't around?! What if I'm on my own and something happens?" You were close now, practically able to feel the heat radiate from the two of you. "I need to be able to defend myself-"

"Humans are weak! You can't use any magic, most of you die of old age! How do you expect me to think you can handle yourself against a monster when-"

" _Humans are the most dangerous monsters out there_!" You screamed, interrupting him and stepping forward. Sans' eyes widened as he stepped back, startled. You didn't care and continued toward him.

"A _child_ managed to go through the entire underground that was trying to _kill them_ , yet they don't have a single scar on them! Do you even hear what people say about Frisk? They say that they fought Asgore, the _monster king_ , with a _stick_." You wildly motioned with your hands, causing Sans to back up more to avoid them. "You keep telling me how 'dangerous' monsters are, bragging about all of their magic, yet the most dangerous monster I've seen is _you_!" Your voice strained saying the last word, throat starting to feel sore. Your hands were in tight fists now, but your wrists were angled to expose the stitches still on the insides of your arms. You were towering over him, and it took you a moment to notice, but he suddenly was very… small.

"Oh." His quiet voice uttered, and all of your anger suddenly dwindled. You looked down at the short skeleton, seeing how big his eye sockets were, how he stood curled into himself… he was afraid. You immediately take a step back, not realizing how close you had gotten during the yelling.

"You can't understand how I feel. You keep saying that since I'm a human, I'm fragile, that I'm weak, but you couldn't be further from the truth." Your voice returned to its normal volume, though much colder than before. You weren't going to feel bad about stopping him from controlling you. "You say that I can only hope to dodge and avoid attacks, but every time I get into a fight I _always_ want to fight back."

Sans looked shocked when you said that, but you continued on. "Back at the willow when I was training with Papyrus? First thing I did was notice the sticks I could have used." Sans flinched as if he was struck. "Gaster? I ran for the bat in the spare room." He stepped back again. "Here at the beach? There's a broken bottle by the bench." You pointed to a worn down bench a few yards away, drawing Sans's attention to it. How in the world you actually noticed that… even you didn't even really know. He looked like he swallowed. "Humans are the most dangerous monsters out there. We don't need to live forever, or even have any of your _magic_. We just need to find a weapon, and outlast everyone _else_." You finish, feeling a slight shake in your chest.

Sans looked horrified. His pin lights were smaller than you ever seen them, and he kept looking at you as if he didn't know who you were. " _You would have dusted us…_ " You barely heard him whisper, before he blinked out of the area.


	24. Angry Day

You stood there silently for a while, looking at the empty space where Sans was a moment ago, before your anger flared once again. You kicked the sand with a yell, sending some of it flying in a cloud. That felt good. Very immature, sure, but good to relieve yourself of your anger at least.

"Hey… uh, human?" Undyne's voice spoke up from behind you, and you quickly put yourself in check. "I think it would be best if we took a break. I need to get something to eat and all, so… text me in an hour or so?" She asked, unusually quiet. At least she wanted to continue, so that was something.

"Yeah, sure." You reply with a nod, trying not to sound irritated. "I'll see you later." You watch her walk off with Papyrus. The two of them were heading away from your apartment's direction, so you decided to walk around the beach some more. Sans most likely teleported to your apartment, or back to his own, but you weren't going to risk going home to see him right now. That was the last thing you wanted.

"Just who does he think he is?" You growled to yourself as you grabbed the paper bag off of the sand. You pulled out a scone and bit into it a little too aggressively; you couldn't even taste it as you angrily chewed. Thankfully the other family must have left during your sparring, so no one was on the beach to see you act so childish. Hey, when you could get away with it, it did make you feel a tad bit better.

Taking a moment to look at the water, you figured what you needed the most right now was to throw things. Thankfully you were already at the beach. Sucking in a breath and trying to cool off a little bit, you walked down sandy slope until the rocks started to appear. Thunder startled you out of your determined walk, causing you to look up to the sky. It was starting to get dark and cloudy across the water, but looked like it'd pass without going through your part of the city. At least that's something you didn't need to worry about.

You made your way onto the rocks, taking care not to slip on the wet ones, and found your usual perch. As you were sitting down you noticed that the area seemed slightly emptier, and it took you a moment to figure out why. Large holes seemed out of place in the area around your rock, claw markings dragging at them, black blast marks scattered here and there. Sans' damage. You swallowed the last of spider baked good before grabbing a newly made small rock, and promptly throwing it into the water.

You had every right to tell him to back off, it wasn't your fault he started yelling back… right? "Ugh." You grumbled and rubbed your forehead. You hated fights. They always seemed so backwards afterward, and you didn't say what you really wanted to say. Well, you did, but you could have worded it very differently. Why couldn't he just let you do your own thing? Sure, him being worried about you is cute in theory, but not in practice if he thinks he can control you. You dug out a bagel from the paper bag, biting it before grabbing another rock with your free hand, trying to throw it even further.

Sans had to understand why you wanted to learn how to do this. You weren't planning on actually getting into fights, but no one plans on getting mugged either. There are dangerous monsters out there, just as there are dangerous humans. Pretending that nothing bad will ever happen won't help anyone. You grabbed another rock. "Prepare for the worst, hope for the best." Your dad used to say all the time. You supposed it must have rubbed off on you.

You were about to bite into your bagel again when out of nowhere your hand felt like it had fallen asleep, tingles traveling up your arm. "Oh no." Your breath caught and you quickly looked around. To your left was the creature from before… but it didn't look nearly as terrifying in the daylight as it did last night. It just looked like a sad black blob of a monster, calmly sitting a couple yards from you, looking at the water.

Surprisingly enough, you didn't yell or try to run or anything. You simply looked at the monster, letting the static sensation take over your feelings. The whispering came back, slightly drowning out the sounds of the lake, but they weren't as frantic as before, they were simply… there.

The creature-or… Gaster, as Sans had said-looked at you sadly, his broken mask having a small frown and droopy eyes. You tilted your head, trying to figure it-him-out. He was transparent, you noticed, or… something. Not quite here, not quite anywhere it seemed, though you couldn't help but to notice the almost glitch like outline he had. It wasn't right.

The whispers got louder as he looked at you, tilting his head slightly before a smile slowly grew onto his face.

"HEY!" You blinked, and Gaster was gone, along with the whispers and static feeling. "What are you looking at, weirdo?!" The dangerously familiar voice snapped you out of your haze. You looked down at the ground, and noticed a golden flower looking up at you.

You should run. You should run away, as fast as you can, and never come back. _Run_.

You yell and slam down the rock at the flower.

"Hey! Lets not get ahead of ourselves here!" Flowey said, reappearing from the ground further away. "I know our previous interactions haven't been the best, but hear me out!" He said quickly, holding his leaves out like hands trying to calm you down. He doesn't deserve the time to be heard.

"What do you want, _weed_?" You ask, feeling your Soul pounding inside your body, every instinct in you wanting to run or kick him or _something_.

He seemed to flinch slightly at that. "Yes, I probably deserve that. I heard about that, uh, seed, and to be honest, I'm shocked about that as you are!" He quickly said, looking almost… sincere. "That was a plain ol' attack, never thought anything like _that_ would happen." Your hand tightened around your rock. He was lying.

"So what, you wanted to apologize? Thanks but no thanks, Flower, I _died_ that day." You glared at him as he shook his head.

"No, of course you couldn't simply forgive me for that! You got caught in the crossfire of Trashbag's- I mean Sans'- and my old rivalry. I would never purposely do that to a _friend_!" Why were you letting him talk, he only lies. That's what Sans said. He says anything he needs to in order to get what he wants…

"What do you want then?" You ask, already knowing that it was a mistake to do so.

"To repay you! I saw that you've been training, and I can't help but feel like you are doing it because you are afraid of me." _No shit Sherlock_. "So how about I help you out as well! You couldn't possibly be afraid of me if I help you train against my attacks!" He said cheerfully, and you couldn't help the pit forming in your stomach. Bad idea. Very bad idea.

"Why on earth would I ever willingly let you attack me?" You ask while standing up, feeling almost offended he thought you were that dumb.

"Look," he started, taking a breath and looking down. "I know your type. You are very determined, right? You want to be able to handle things on your own, and you don't want to be afraid of anything. I get that! You have no reason to trust me, and I know that. too. I've made plenty of mistakes before, and one of them was making Sans my enemy." He looked up at you. "You were the first Soul I've seen in months, I really thought we could have been friends, but I just turned into my old self when I saw Sans." Was that actual regret in his face? "Can you give me another chance? You don't need to trust me, or even like me, but I need to make it up to you. I'd hate for you to be afraid of me when you don't need to be."

You… believed him. No, you were an idiot if you did. This is just one of his stupid tricks to get you to do what he wants. You should never have listened to him in the first place.

"I am not some idiot that you can fool like this!" He seemed shocked from your outburst. "I know you don't mean well, and this is part of a twisted plan or something! You are not my friend, Flowey. You made that much clear in that nightmare!" You declared, and that got him confused.

"Nightmare?" He asked. You suddenly realized that it _was_ a nightmare… and could have just been a normal one at that.

You paused a bit. "Never mind, just… No. I do not accept your offer, I don't want your help or your friendship. All I want is you to leave me alone." You stood your ground, acting much more confident than you actually were facing the flower.

He nodded, considering. "That's fine. You'll get bored of Undyne and the others eventually. You know where to find me if you change your mind." Flowey smiled, before ducking under the ground and vanishing.

Like hell you'd ever willingly face him.

.

 _That stupid flower was right._

That was the only thing you could think of during your matches with Undyne. It has been two days since your fight with Sans, and time seemed to rush together at this point.

The first day was the hardest on you so far, mostly because of your frustration. It seemed like it wasn't going anywhere. Training helped with your anger… temporarily. Soon as you took a snack break and got back to one-hundred percent, the argument would replay in your head again and you'd be right where you started. Thankfully Undyne didn't bring it up. At most she would give a quick insult to motivate you more, and push you harder than the last attack. You had trained with Undyne until it started getting dark out, before she called it quits and she went back to her place with Alphys, who was watching from the bench. You walked home alone.

You didn't remember how lonely sleeping alone was.

You tried to ignore the feeling, but it just felt wrong. Instead of focusing on it, you met up with Undyne again in the morning and trained. Alphys and Mettaton were there as well, though Mettaton seemed more interested in taking photos with you than attempting to train you. Something about his "Human hunting days being done." The company was nice though, and it did help relieve most of your frustration. Undyne's attacks were still getting the better of you, and you needed to take a break every ten minutes or so to eat some monster snacks.

You spent the entire day training, minus the hour break for lunch and the quick photo shoot with Mettaton before he left. It was a great day for you to see how damage affected your Soul and body at the same time. Damage directly done to the Soul didn't appear on your body, far as you could tell, but hurt much worse. However damage to your body hurt slightly less, and marked both your body and Soul. Of course you would prefer not to get either hit, and that's why you kept training. Darkness was coming in early again tonight due to the black clouds in the sky, so the two of you called it quits and went off in separate ways again. It started to rain just before you got to your apartment, successfully soaking through your shirt before you got to shelter.

Sans was at your place, shocking you a little, though he seemed… quiet. He was simply lying on the couch lazily, watching some Mettaton show. When he saw you he sat up and opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but when he saw the bruises littering your body he cut himself short. You waited a moment, attempting to shake off the rain a bit and give him time to talk, but he simply laid back down. You didn't offer to start a conversation; you were tired anyway, so you headed to your room.

Sleeping alone was colder than you remembered.

The next day you were woken up by Papyrus' concerned voice yelling at Sans, something about him being a 'lazy pile of bones' and turning back to his 'old self.' You took that as your cue to leave, and grabbed the paper bag of baked goods before leaving your apartment. Undyne trained with you at the beach again, almost like she was already used to the pattern. Rinse and repeat yesterday.

It was quiet when you trained now, other than grunts and the sound of the ocean. You were too focused on training to give your usual remarks, and Undyne was taking the time to work out as well. No Alphys or Mettaton to keep a conversation going. It wasn't long until you noticed that she was throwing all of her magic at you, and you only had a few bruises of white on your Soul. Not even those annoying trick spears that would change direction fazed you any more.

You already learned all you could from her, you realized sadly.

"Hey Undyne," you started, deflecting a set of spears. "How strong are you compared to other monsters?" You asked. Sans was upset at you for wanting to 'jump' to Undyne like you did, but there is no way she was the 'strongest' monster… right?

"The strongest!" She cheered, showing off her strength by suplexing a bunch of her own cyan spears, before letting them fly at you. You easily spun your green one around and defected them. "Sure there are others that would disagree, but I am head of the Royal Guard for a reason!" She proudly struck the sand with a spear, sending more at you.

Block, block, knock, block. "What about Asgore? He's pretty strong, right? I mean he is the monster king and all."

"That dork? He's a big softy!" She laughed and shook her head. "He used to be a challenge for me when I was little, but he is more likely to offer you tea than a proper sparring match."

You nodded, feeling sort of disappointed. It took you a few days to become good enough to defend yourself against the 'strongest' monster. At least… the strongest monster that is willing to fight you. You thought back to Sans when he was in the alleyway, attacking HP. That… looked a lot stronger than Undyne, to be quite honest.

"I think I'm good for today." You said, tossing the spear into the soft sand, watching it fade. "Thanks for training with me. I'll text you if I feel up for more later on."

"Sure thing, Human. Take it easy, alright? You've been doing good, but even awesome people like us need breaks." She smiled at you, and you nodded.

"Will do."

.

You lied.

You didn't try to, of course. You went home, saw Sans on your couch and Papyrus cooking in your kitchen, so you went to your room and shut the door. Samus was practicing acrobatics in her tank, as usual, so you took her out and pulled out your laptop, amusing yourself for a couple hours before you put them away and fell asleep.

Waking up in the middle of the night is never fun, especially not when you wake up from a nightmare. You couldn't quite remember the details of the dream, but you could remember you weren't good enough. Something really bad happened, and you were powerless stop it. Ugh, you hated that feeling. You got up, got dressed, and needed a walk.

You tucked your phone and lighter into your hoodie pocket, and left your apartment. Walking in the night usually stressed you out, but the clear night's sky had everything so bright, it was almost lovely. The roads seemed to always have a car on them, probably late workers or people traveling, and it only added to your comfort of the night.

Keeping a continuous internal dialogue, you walked on the sidewalks until shops caught your attention, and you recognized where you were heading. Deciding that you might as well move the plot on with your life, you continued.

You stepped off of the sidewalk and into the trees, having a slightly harder time pushing through the branches this time. It seemed like the place had become overgrown. You weaved yourself to the clearing, seeing the lone willow surrounded by masses of small flowers, all beautifully lit from the moonlight. Strange… you didn't remember any flowers in the clearing before, except for one.

You looked around the clearing for a bit, before stepping away from the trees and into the beds of flowers. They weren't nearly as big as Flowey had been, thankfully. They were just casual flowers of all sorts of colors, not that you could tell very well in the lighting. You made your way to the willow and noticed how the entire thing seemed draped in vines.

"Howdy!" Flowey popped up in front of you, seeming a little bigger than he had last time you've seen him. Must be the lighting, you figured. "Didn't think I'd see you so soon!" He smiled.

Your hand tightened around the lighter in your pocket. "Howdy."


	25. Petal Day

You silently twisted the lighter in your pocket while looking at the flower, refusing to offer any hints of your thoughts on your face.

"Kinda late to be training, don'tchu think?" Flowey asked, still wearing a large smile. You felt a shiver travel up your back from the brisk wind.

"Couldn't sleep." You answered plainly. Why were you even here? You shouldn't trust the flower. You _didn't_ trust the flower.

"Another nightmare?" He asked, smug smile growing. You felt anger flare and ignite in you, but forced yourself to breath normally. You came here _willingly_ , you had to remember. You came to _him_.

"Yep. I want to make sure it doesn't come true." You answered, pulling your hands out of your pockets -empty- and crossing your arms. "I'm choosing to spar with you, but don't mistake this for trust. I reserve the right to walk out of here any time I want." You made your intent clear, though you weren't sure how much good it would do. He had no reason to follow your rules, and he could easily kill you now if he wanted.

"If you say so." He nodded, seeming more than willing to follow your simple demand. He looked up at you mid-nod, smile growing slightly more twisted. "So… tell me. What are you training for? Why do you need me to teach you?"

You suppressed another shiver as you looked into his dark eyes, hearing complete silence other than the wind scrape through the surrounding trees. Was that thunder off in the distance? "I need to be able to defend myself. I can't be afraid anymore." The exchange seemed rather… formal, compared to training with Papyrus and Undyne.

"Shall we begin?" He asked, excitement building in his eyes. You nodded, and immediately felt the earth shift under your feet. You jumped back just in time for a pair of vines to break out of the dirt and hang in the air beside Flowey. "Then I accept your _request_."

The vines rushed at you. Before you knew what you were doing, you ducked and rolled through the flowers, dodging the thick vines. Flowey laughed, slight layering sneaking into his voice. "Golly, you sure do have good reflexes, don'tcha? Well that's a good start."

You quickly stood up, brushing loose flower petals from your knees. "What the hell, Flowey?" You yelled, resisting the urge to grab the lighter. "How about some warning next time? And what about my Soul?"

He giggled, rising up slightly. "I was just testing you, of course! You can't expect little old me to not know your limits before trying to help you!" He leered. "Your Soul is completely optional in a fight. You can't expect every monster to pull out your Soul in an argument."

Fair enough, but still… The ground shifted below you again, and you ducked and rolled like before-right into another vine. You grunted as you felt yourself picked up slightly, before the vine flipped you over and dropped you hard on your back, petals bursting into the air. Giggling filled the area, though what worried you the most was that you couldn't pinpoint where its origin was.

"You can't fight me like other monsters. I'm not one, after all. If you try to follow a pattern with me, you're just making _yourself_ predictable!" You rolled over to your knees, quickly jumping to your feet when Flowey appeared in front of your face. You were going to respond, but you heard something coming towards you from behind. You turned to face it, and immediately fell face first into a bed of flowers. The back of your head was sore.

"Ugh… Flowey come on, let me learn some before you pull this shit." You groaned, rubbing the back of your head. A tightness appeared around your ankle, yanking your back as you yelped.

"Like I said… I need to know your limits." You felt yourself lifted into the air by your ankle, and you twisted to face the smiling flower. A chill settled inside your chest, the weight of his words finally getting to you.

He let go of you, and you crumbled onto the ground with a grunt. You righted yourself as fast as you could, noticing that the area seemed like it was getting darker. You strained your eyes in the new darkness, glancing up for a moment to see the moon get clouded out.

"Aw, that's not very fair to you, now is it? I suppose I have no choice but to switch up my attacks." He spoke, but you still couldn't identify from where. You braced yourself, looking around for a hint of movement. It was a _very_ bad idea to come here during the night. Small white orbs appeared to the left of you, illuminating Flowey in eerie shadows. Those weren't orbs, you realized. You knew exactly what they were.

"You see these pellets?" Flowey asked, motioning with his leaves. "… I think you know what to do." Absolute terror froze you in place as you stared at the glowing seeds.

You were dying.

Your Soul was being torn apart from the inside out.

You were back in your living room, screaming on the ground, reaching for your side as your life left you.

Your Soul was breaking.

Time snapped back to normal, and you fell to the ground just in time for the seeds to fly over your head. You were back in the park, your Soul still in your body and perfectly fine.

"What? My little old seeds bring back some bad memories?" Flowey asked, smile easily heard through his voice. You couldn't stop shaking. You closed your eyes tight and shook your head, trying to shake yourself free from the images assaulting your mind. Breathe. In. Out. Grass. Trees. Wind. Cold. Crickets. Air. Thunder. You focused on different things that were around you, what you could feel and hear. You were _here_.

"I… I think I'm good for tonight." You said quietly, bringing yourself to your hands and knees, slowly getting your breathing and shaking under control.

"No. You aren't." A vine snaked around your throat, lifting you up. You opened your mouth to yell, but it only tightened. "I said I was going to train you, and I'm not finished yet. We aren't done here until I _know your limits_." He threw you down into another bed of flowers, and you gasped for air.

"I thought… we had a deal?!" You press a hand to your throat and look at Flowey. He only smiled.

"No, you had a deal. I said I accepted your request to train you, not that I accepted your terms." He grew. The vine supporting his flower head grew taller, twisting and looking down at you.

"G-get back!" You shouted, stumbling backwards and fumbling with your pockets. They were empty.

"Looking for these?" Flowey raised a small vine holding your phone and lighter. "I don't know what you thought you could accomplish with these, but I won't judge you for trying." The vine pulled back on itself, disappearing behind Flowey. "Now let's try this again…" More of the glowing seeds appeared, spinning an outline of Flowey. It took all of your willpower not to freeze up right then. If you froze up, you would die.

The seeds flew at you, and you jumped back and rolled, just trying to get distance between you and Flowey. More seeds flew at you, and you face planted into the flowers to avoid them. You got up, didn't bother to brush the grass off, and immediately started running to the trees. Maybe if you were fast enough-

"Ah ah ah! That's cheating!" Flowey's voice boomed through the air, accompanied by a roll of thunder, the lightning flash somehow perfectly timed to the stinging in your back. You screamed as you fell forward, tightness appearing around your ankles. You were yanked back, lifted, and tossed into a bed of flowers. Again.

"You aren't leaving here. You are going to stay, and dodge these pellets, again, and _again_ , until you are all out of HP." Flowey said with a terrifying laugh. You got up, apparently too quickly, and you had to hold your ribs to minimize the pain.

More seeds appeared before you were ready, and you jumped again out of their way, landing hard on your stomach, hands stinging from all of the abuse. You stayed there a moment, trying to catch your breath. "What? Are you going to give up now?!" Flowey asked, seemingly taking your breather as a sign of defeat. A vine wrapped around your stomach and forcefully lifted you up. "Do I have to start calling you names?" The vine let go and dropped you onto your legs, vanishing in time for more seeds to appear.

"Do I have to start calling you _idiot_?!" You somehow found the energy to dodge most of the seeds, though a couple slashed across your arm with a sting. "Do I have to remind you that I can kill you any moment now?" You panicked for a moment, thinking seeds started hitting you from above, only for you to realize it started raining. The cold drops almost stung as they hit you through your clothing and hair.

Lightning struck nearby, lighting up the clearing and giving you a perfect view for just a split second. Vines were _everywhere_. The beds of flowers all seemed destroyed in your area. Flowey was looking down at you with a broken and wicked smile.

You made a bad decision.

Taking in a shaky breath, you let go of your side and faced Flowey with squared shoulders. His layered laugh warped around you, and you could hear vines shifting everywhere. It was too dark.

"Aren'tchu just _precious_! Just so full of Determination!" A vine hit you out of the darkness, smacking you across the damp flowers. You were really sore now… but you had no idea how much more you could take without seeing your Soul. It had to be mostly white at this point…

Still. You got up, and faced where you heard Flowey. Light radiated from more of his seeds, and you were too slow to jump out of their way. A bunch of them hit you square on your chest, sending you hard on your back and knocking the air out of your lungs. You lay there for a moment, watching the lightning crack across the clouds and rain come down at you, feeling coldness settle in your bones.

You coughed, and turned to your side. "You done yet?" You asked, voice rough. Flowey seemed shocked at that, at least from what you could see from the slight light from his seeds. He gave you the time to stand up, and immediately fired more seeds at you. You fell back once again, landing against some of his vines.

You were done, you knew it. One more hit and you'd be out. Flowey seemed to know it too, his quietness confusing your dazed mind. The rain continued to fall, and you simply closed your eyes, unable to stop anything that was coming to you.

"Hey… you okay?" A quiet voice asked close to you. You opened your eyes and saw Flowey looking up at you, looking concerned. He no longer wore his twisted smile, or towered above you. He was back to his old self.

If you had any energy left at all, you would have said some sarcastic reply, or tried to hit the flower, or something. But instead, all you did was close your eyes and breathe. You were cold. And hurting. Thunder boomed again, and you felt slight pressure wrap delicately around your chest and waist.

"Sorry… I guess I went a little over the top…" You felt yourself being moved, and the rain no longer was falling on you. You slowly opened your eyes to see leaves draping around you, and saw you were under the willow now. Larger strange leaves you never seen before were also above you, helping keep yourself protected from the little rain that did sneak through the willow branches. A strong scent welcomed you, some of it familiar though you couldn't identify it.

"Here… You can have these back." A vine brushed itself against your chest, dropping your lighter and phone onto you. You slowly grabbed the objects, curling up around them. Softness surrounded you, and you couldn't help your thoughts from getting fuzzy. "Don't worry… I'll watch over you. I'm sorry…" Flowey's voice faded halfway through saying your name.

.

You jerked awake. At first you didn't know where you were, flowers and vines filled your view, strong sunlight filtering through the willow leaves, the air filled with the sound of light wind and birds chirping. You looked where you were sleeping, shocked to find a literal bed of flowers. Most of them you couldn't recognize, but you could name jasmine and lavender. Some of the flowers were clearly unnatural, and had to be from the underground.

Your mind raced trying to remember why you were here. What happened last night? Slowly your memory returned, causing you to freeze as your heart hammered. You looked around quickly, seeing no smile golden flowers nearby, you brought a fist in front of your chest. You had to be sure…

Your chest tightened for just a moment before your Soul popped out, looking its usual red, blue band around it perfectly fine. No seed. No white. You sighed with relief and quickly pushed the Soul back into your chest. Best not keep it out here.

You leaned back into the bed of flowers and looked yourself over. Your clothes were an absolute mess, the grass stains will be impossible to get out, you knew. Various cuts lined your sweatshirt, though shockingly your skin wasn't broken anywhere. Even on your arm where you distinctly remember seeds cutting you, there was just a bruise under the cut fabric.

"Breakfast?" You jumped as Flowey's voice asked, appearing beside you. You scrambled back in the flowers, scared for a moment. The flower looked sad, but forced a smile anyway. "I scared someone and they dropped their nice cream. I don't have much use for food myself…" A vine held out a small wrapped treat towards you. You stared at the flower for a moment before slowly accepting the food, holding your hand out for it. The vine dropped it into your hands. Still cold.

"Listen… I'm really sorry about last night. It just felt so _good_ to fight… I forgot that it was just a sparring." He looked honest in his apology. It wasn't like you were particularly sore either. A few bruises and ruined clothing, but in the end… you actually felt really refreshed.

You didn't respond, you didn't know how to, so instead you just opened the nice cream and bit into it. Strawberry flavor. You glanced at the inside of the wrapper and saw "You are doing great!" written on the inside.

"I understand if you don't want to continue… It did get pretty intense-" Your phone vibrating cut off what Flowey was saying. You opened the screen, seeing [where u at?] from [Angry Fsh]. Strange, you didn't remember putting Undyne in as a contact.

"Sorry, give me a moment." You said quickly, and typed [With other monster. Why?].

[bringing smol human 2 ur place. cool?]

[I'm not there, but sure. Just ask Sans to let you in.] It was nice she asked before bringing them, at least.

"Sorry about that." You said and looked back up, seeing Flowey still looking droopy. He really _was_ upset about yesterday. "Uh… about what you said… yeah, no." You ran a hand through your hair. "You need to know that if I say I'm done, it means _I'm done_." You bit into the nice cream. How you were still so calm… you would have thought you'd be booking it out of here.

"Look, I'll be honest with you. I don't want to train with you. Never really did. I still… well I don't hate you, but I dislike you." He seemed shocked you were being so blunt. "I do, however, still… want to train. I'm sure I could find other monsters easily enough, but since I'm being truthful here, it's still you that I'm afraid of." Not right now, apparently. You were talking to Flowey as if he was an actual friend. How in the world did he do that… "I need to head home now, but we can continue later. Hopefully not in the dark, next time."

He nodded, understanding. "Right. Well… you know where I am." He looked awkwardly around before ducking into the ground, leaving you and your nice cream in peace.

.

The door shut just a little too loudly behind you as you entered the apartment, immediately gaining the attention of the monsters and human in your living room. Papyrus, Alphys, and Undyne were watching some new anime with Frisk.

"Human?" Papyrus asked concerned, looking you over. You glanced down and noticed that you probably aren't in the best of conditions to be showing up in. "Where have you been? My brother and I have been confused since you were not here this morning."

"Damn, human! You look like you got wrecked! Who's your new training buddy?!" Undyne asked, slightly less concerned about your physical appearance. You ran your fingers through your hair, pulling out a small yellow flower.

"Uh, another monster. You probably wouldn't know them." You said, flicking the flower towards the miniature trashcan by the couch, though it fell short. "I feel a bit dirty from training though, so excuse me." You stepped towards your room. Quiet talking could be heard through your door, causing you to pause for a moment.

"-not like they would want to see me ever again… I messed up, no more resets to fix my problems-" Sans. If he was going to talk about you, he could at least talk to you. You grabbed the handle to your door.

"Oh human! Before you go to your room-" Papyrus started, but was too slow to stop you from opening your door. You paused as you looked on your bed, seeing Sans sitting at the edge and holding Samus. His head jerked at the sound of the door opening, eyes widening when he saw you.

You noticed his cheeks were wet.

"T-this isn't what it looks like!" He stumbled to his feet, looking at Samus for a moment and back at you. You stepped forward, but before you could speak he blinked out of the room.

"Let go, little beast! Come on!" You heard his voice down the hallway and you quickly ran towards it. Spare room. You opened the door and saw Sans struggling to unwrap Samus from his arm bones, and she was simply not having it. He looked up at you, and backed away.

" _Sans_." You spoke, causing him to freeze. "We need to talk."


	26. Break Day

You paused, giving the perfect chance for the short skeleton to teleport away. He didn't take it. Sans was frozen as he looked at you, wide-eyed. You felt a slight strain in your chest, wondering if he was afraid that you caught him like this, or if he was just simply afraid of _you_. Samus looked at you, and you could swear that you saw her tighten her grip on Sans' arm bones.

"We haven't spoken, and… we need to." You said quietly, forcibly relaxing your shoulders when you realized you were still tense and ready to chase him. He didn't respond. You bit your lip and looked around before finally letting go of the door handle and sitting on the edge of the bed. Sans shifted his weight on his feet but continued standing.

"I…" You sighed, running a hand through your hair and letting it stay in there for a while. "I hate fights. Ours especially landed on a bad note, and I need you to know that I'm not some cold-blooded murderer." You stated flatly and dropped your hand to your lap, not making eye contact. You saw Sans flinch a little at that from the corner of your eye. Silence hung in the air for another moment, only making you more anxious.

"N-no. I know you aren't." Sans finally spoke, relaxing his stance. You waited for him to say more, but you just heard his mouth open and close some more. He didn't know where to begin. You decided to give the conversation from before another go.

"Humans are… dangerous. Look at any history we have and that much is clear. We don't have claws or magic of our own, so we make knives and guns instead." You coughed. "But what makes us human is that it is our _choice_ to use them." You quickly added, making sure you didn't drive him away like last time. You still had trouble looking at him, so you just kept your eyes to the floor.

"That's why training is so important to me. One, I don't want to rely on weapons to protect myself. Two, someone won't always be there to protect me." You quickly listed off, voice speeding up ever so slightly. "When you tried to control me and tell me that I couldn't train…" You looked at your hands, flexing the fingers a little and trying to release your nerves. "It just-humans don't like being controlled. We like choices. When people push us to do things we tend to shove back."

Silence.

You opened your mouth to try again, feeling more stressed about the silence, but thankfully, finally, Sans spoke up. "I… I think I understand that now. I was-I mean… I'm sorry." His voice was a bit shaky, but he was talking at least. He brought his arm with Samus up to his chest, using his free hand to rub up and down her scales. "It's just… I've already lost _so much_ … I was too worried about losing you too. And when you said the whole 'humans are the strongest monsters' thing, I just…" His sentence trailed off. He took a breath. "I'm sorry about… everything."

"I get that you were worried about me, and I thank you for that, but I don't think… I don't think we'll work out if you think I am yours to tell what to do." The words left your mouth before you realized what you were saying. Sans' breath caught.

"Is this… are we… breaking up?" Sans asked, voice low. Your heart tightened. Even after that fight and avoiding each other for days… he still considered you two a thing? Air was harder to breathe suddenly.

"…I don't know." You still couldn't look him in the eyes, damn it. You really didn't know. You liked him, you really did, but what you said was true. You weren't about to be controlled for sake of a relationship. "I need some time alone." You stood up.

Sans stumbled over his words a bit, stepping forward. "B-before you go… are you okay?" The question caught you off guard. You turned and faced him, seeing that he was looking a bit distressed at your body. You realized you still haven't changed out of your grass-stained, torn up clothing from yesterday's training with Flowey.

"Just intense training. I'm fine." You answered plainly, feeling even crummier at how concerned he was. He nodded, looking away from you.

"Right. Well… good luck." He stammered. "Just… be safe, alright?" He asked, eyes sad. "That's not me trying to control you or anything, I just… I worry. Don't be afraid to hit me up if you ever need anything."

Your throat tightened and you nodded quietly, turning away before your cheeks got too hot. "I'll try."

.

You ended up going back to Flowey's clearing later that same day, once you got cleaned up and took a nap. You set up a backpack of clothes and food this time. Who knew how intense this might be. Flowey was more than shocked to see you again so soon, but you didn't say much when you walked in. You simply headed to the willow, set your bag beside the trunk, and sat on the bed of flowers you previously slept on. Normally you'd feel concerned about destroying the beautiful flowers, but it seemed like these flowers in the clearing didn't have to worry about that. All of the destruction from yesterday was nearly non-existent, and you only noticed younger flowers in certain areas because you were looking. Probably had something to do with a sentient flower living here.

"Is… everything alright?" Flowey asked, appearing once more beside you. You leaned your head back against the bark of the willow tree, closing your eyes and taking a breath.

"I don't know. I just… don't know." You lamely stated, motioning vaguely with your hands. Flowey tilted his head at you. You looked at the flower, not sure exactly how much you trusted it. "Flowey?"

"Yes?" He jumped.

"How much can I trust you?" You asked. Might as well get straight to the point.

He looked startled. "Uh… I mean, I learned my lesson from yesterday if that's what you mean. I'll stop when you tell me to, and try not to go over the top…" He stumbled over his words a bit. Hm. With how flustered he was, it was easy to accept it as the truth.

"You said I should rest today, but I feel… restless. Let's do a small training session, alright? Just basic easy stuff to distract me." You requested. The flower nodded quickly, looking ready to duck into the ground. "But remember," you started, making him pause. "If I say I'm done, _we are done_." You locked eyes with him in the ' _or else I'll burn this entire place down on you_ ' way. He nodded again before disappearing underground. You sighed heavily, stretching a moment before standing up. Checking your pockets you felt the two rectangles, more for self-assurance than anything else. Taking a few steps away from the willow, you pulled your arms across your chest, focusing on getting pumped up. "Alright, start."

No sooner had the words left your mouth had the ground shifted under you, making you jump and roll out of the way. "Sorry flowers." You mumble, brushing them off and standing. More vines appeared, darting this way and that, though you found it immensely easier to deal with during the daylight.

Slide to the left, jump to the right, duck, roll, dodge. It went on for a while before you got tired of the simplicity. "You don't have to go _so_ easy on me." You proclaimed to the vines, jumping over one that swiped at your feet.

"Sorry." Flowey's voice said from under you, catching you off guard. You looked down just in time for a vine to fly up, effectively punching you right in the jaw. You fell back on your rear, hands flying to your mouth and pressing hard. _Ow_. "Whoops, I thought you were ready for that." He popped up, tilting his head. You couldn't tell if he was _actually_ sorry about it though. You were going to give him a piece of your mind, but your jaw disagreed about opening at the moment. "Are you done?" Flowey asked. You shook your head, using one hand to get ready to stand up. "Then I'll just keep going."

Vines wrapped around your ankles and tugged at you, causing you to yelp. Your arms immediately tried grabbing at the ground, but the grass and flowers were too smooth to get a good grip. You were lifted up, and you found yourself hanging upside down close to the willow. Flowey appeared in front of you, turning his head nearly all the way around to face you like you were right side up.

"I realized you were right to question your Soul earlier. Most monsters will in fact use it against you." You felt your chest tighten, and out your Soul popped. Just the smallest bit of white was seen at the top of it, but other than that it looked perfectly fine.

"Wh- what?!" The vines holding you suddenly loosened, nearly dropping you. You shrieked, bringing your hands to above your head to protect you from the fall, but another vine wrapped around one of your arms, stabilizing you. "What happened to your Soul!?" Flowey asked, and you couldn't help but to laugh at that reaction. He look so shocked, it even looked honest.

"What do you mean, 'what happened?'" You huffed. " _You_ happened. Your seed broke my soul." How didn't he know that?

"I overheard Smiley Trashbag and Alphys talking about something about one of my seeds… but this…" A thin vine reached towards your Soul, making you nervous. "What did they-"

"I'd rather if you didn't-" You started, but your sentence turned into a scream in your throat as the vine touched your Soul, pain racing across your entire body. Your shaky eyes focused on your Soul, seeing that it looked like it was being branded white by the vine.

The vines holding you up released you and you collapsed onto the ground, body shaking. You felt your breath going too fast as you got onto your hands and knees, snatching your Soul out of the air. You could feel your fingers ghost along your body, but thank goodness it didn't hurt. You pressed the Soul against your chest to shove it back in, but it simply squished against it. "Come on…" You muttered, pressing harder.

"Calm down! I'm sorry, I should have asked permission first, but just calm down!" Flowey popped up in front of you. You jumped back, breathing hard and shielding your Soul with your hands. He didn't move. You waited a moment, waiting for him to try something else, but he just held his leaves out and looked worried.

You took a deep breath. He made a mistake. It's okay. You are okay. You swallowed, inhaled, and… The Soul seeped back inside of you, assaulting you with the bright colors and powerful scents around you. You gasped, leaning forward again on your hands. Where you ever going to get used to that?

"I'm sorry. I forgot you folks with Souls need to give permission about that kind of thing-" Flowey backed up a little, curling into himself. Your pocket vibrated, cutting off Flowey's apology.

Your shaky hand quickly pulled out your phone, seeing [vertebae]. [what was that? are you okay?]

He must have felt it too, you figure. You quickly tap in a response, depending more on autocorrect that you would have liked. [Training, sorry. I'm good.] You bit your lip and hit send. You took a moment to settle the rest of your shakiness, looking up to see Flowey still looking concerned.

"You just…" You sighed and sat properly on the ground. "One; explain the seed, and I _might_ forgive you for that. Two; explain the Soul thing, and don't do that again." You demanded.

"The seed?" He looked confused. "I… I really don't know about that. It was a plain old attack, honest! I never even heard of anything like what Alphys was describing ever happening before…" He kept looking at the ground. "The reason it hurt when I touched your Soul however… that was because you didn't give me permission. Your Soul assumed it was an attack since it wasn't wanted." Flowey's leaves folded into each other, apparently a flower's equivalent to hands tying themselves into knots. "I-I mean, if the intent was malicious the result will hurt if you give them permission or not, but even if someone means well… if you don't want it, it can still do a lot of harm." Flowey explained more, swallowing and sinking even further down into the dirt.

"… Okay."

"Okay?" Flowey looked up, shocked and relieved.

"You explained yourself, and I trust you. I forgive you, Flowey." You spoke. His eyes widened slightly, before a small smile crossed his face and he nodded. "But for now… I think I need to go home. Thank you for training with me. And for the Soul lesson." You smiled at the flower, and it slowly grinned back.

You stood up and grabbed your backpack, and headed out of the clearing.

The edge of the clearing where the rest of the trees gathered was nearly impossible to see through at this point. Vines and overgrowth were thick, flowers blocking little visibility that you would have been able to see from the park in the first place. You shrugged to yourself, pushing your way through. You finally got to the sidewalk of the park, looked back to see perfectly fine woods, and turned just in time to bump into someone wearing blue.

"Ooph!" Sans grunted, dropping his phone and a paper bag he was holding. "Sorry, I-" He looked up, startling when he noticed it was you. "Oh! Hey…" He looked confused.

"Hey! Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." You quickly bent down and picked up the bag and phone for him. You noticed there was already another dent in the paper bag, like it fell before.

"I thought you were training?" Sans asked, accepting the items, he looked you over and glanced past you, towards the trees.

"Was, but I decided I had enough for today." You shrugged nonchalantly, turning and starting to walk down the sidewalk. After a couple steps you realized Sans wasn't walking with you, so you looked back at him. He seemed shocked, but quickly caught up and started walking with you.

"You… okay?"

"Just a bit banged up."

"Here," he reached into his bag, pulling out a pumpkin cookie. "Spider baked goods never fail to patch you up." He smiled a little. You felt yourself smile a bit and accept the cookie.

.

The two of you walked towards your apartment, not saying much but it didn't feel awkward at all. It felt… nice. He didn't comment on your grass stains, or say anything against training. Instead he was just simply walking with you, throwing you an almost genuine smile every so often.

"I'm glad I ended up _bumping_ into you. Heh. I was worried you'd be stuck in the weather coming up." Sans bit into his own cookie, waving it up to the clouds. There were a lot of them, but you wouldn't have thought anything of it. Thankfully you were pretty close to your apartment now, so there wasn't anything to worry about.

"Storm coming?" You asked, rubbing the corners of your mouth to make sure you didn't have any more crumbs stuck to them. You basically inhaled those cookies Sans handed to you, they were just too good.

"Oh yeah, big warning on the TV said in two hours. Mostly high winds and rain, you know how it goes." He rubbed the back of his head. You laughed, pulling the keys to your apartment out of your pocket and spinning them around your finger.

"Oh man, good thing then-" Sharp pressure appeared at your throat, cutting off your words. The keys slipped from your finger and clanged onto the ground.

"Told'ya they'd eventually come back." A not-so-familiar voice said beside your ear, grabbing you from behind and pressing the knife even harder against your neck. Warmth trickled down to your chest.

A flare of blue caught your attention as Sans dropped the bag of baked goods, though he froze when a metallic click was heard. "Ah ah! Not so fast, monster!" You strained to turn your eyes enough to see a man in a grey jacket step out of the shadowy alleyway, half of his face looking like he survived a wildfire. His nose was broken. He held a dark gun pointed straight at your chest, smile growing on the good half of his face. "You so much as wave a finger and I'll fill your exquisite partner here full of lead." The Human Pride leader smiled. Sans' pin lights darted between you and the gun, as if trying to judge how fast he'd be able to react.

"Now I'm not exactly a hard guy to please. I just want some LOVE is all. Shame you had to wreck my beautiful face, now ain't it?" Another man came out of nowhere, grabbing Sans from behind. He tried to jerk away, only to have the man punch across his face, driving him to the ground. "Ah! What did I just tell you?" The leader yelled, stepping forward.

"I dare you to move, buddy." He leered, looking down at Sans and cocking the gun, still pointed at you. Sans's hands tightened into fists on the ground, but he didn't move. He kept his eyes on you. "Now there's a good monster. Here's what's up." The leader motioned with his free hand, and the man behind Sans yanked the skeleton to his feet, holding his arms behind him.

"You are going to take everything we dish out, and if you do anything, my man splits your pretty pet's neck wide open. Capiche?" The leader smiled, not waiting for an answer before swinging his foot at Sans' leg, a sickening crack greeting it. His knee bent at an unnatural angle as he collapsed onto his good leg, screaming out. "Thats a good monster." The leader snickered. He slammed his boot into Sans' chest, and you heard the unmistakable sound of ribs snapping.

You screamed and pulled at the grip holding you back, only to have the knife bite deeper into your throat. "S-stop! Please!" Your voice strained, but the leader didn't look like he heard you. Sans was shaking on his hands and knees, eyes brimming with pained tears. He looked almost… confused?

A hand grabbed Sans' hood, yanking him back and making him face the leader on his knees. "Now, a monster like you… As powerful as you are, I'm sure you've got plenty of EXP. I'm almost sorry I went after that other one before you." He leveled the gun to Sans' head. "But hey, he'll make a good snack when I'm finished here." Sans' eyes widened and he jerked forward to do something, only to have his head jolt back, a new black hole appearing in his forehead.

The blue in his eye flared for just a split second before it blew out like a flame. Your mouth was open and you heard yourself screaming, throat getting painfully tight before you were dropped. One of your hands grabbed at your throat, immediately becoming soaking with warmth. The other pressed against the ground, barely able to hold you up.

Your eyes couldn't leave Sans' body as it collapsed, clothing suddenly acting as if the body beneath them really _was_ just a skeleton, as if there was nothing solid between the cloth and bone. You tried to reach out, tried to touch his expressionless face, but you could only watch in horror as the bones crumbled into a grey dust.

"'Ey boys! Would you check this out? The pet bares their Soul at the monster's death!" The leader laughed and you couldn't help but to look down at it. Your Soul hung heavily in front of your chest, the band around it fading to white before breaking off. The rest of your soul looked like it was bleeding white, just the edges of the bottom faintly red. It wasn't enough. The crack down the center split even further throughout the Soul, and the last thing you saw was it breaking apart.

.

.

.

[RESET]


	27. Reset Day

((Friendly Reminder that commissions for Sans Nights are open, Name your Price! Send me a message on Tumblr (madlyinlov3onda) if you are interested!))

.

Blackness.

All you could see and feel and hear was the absolute vastness of _nothing_. The silence was deafening, darkness blinding, not even air dared to touch your skin. You were falling and being pulled back but at the same time unmoving, floating still and simply existing by _not_.

This was different than last time you died.

This was so much worse.

This had your mind reaching for your body and for your soul, only to have nothing respond.

You hated _this_.

You hated it with your full being despite not having one. You screamed out without a voice into the darkness, trying to let nothing know how much you despised it. You hated the people that killed you, how they cheated and abused instead of simply ending. You hated the thought that your life ended feet from your home and inches from someone you cared about. You hated how _he_ died as well.

 _You hated this._

This shouldn't be how it ends for you. It _couldn't_ be how it ends for you. You didn't care that it already happened, you only could think with all of your nothingness that this wasn't _fair_. No story should end like this, not Sans', not those thugs, especially not _yours_.

 _You hated this._

Burning filled your entire being, the feeling completely alien in your new state but it burned nonetheless. You screamed out without a voice and told the darkness that how _wrong_ and _terrible_ it was. You tore at the nothing as if it was something, attempting to wound and let your noiseless voice be heard. The emptiness strained and so did you, feeling the need for air burning through you as the darkness got tighter… tighter… so uncomfortably tight. You hated it even more, struggling to make you real and tangible to fight the nothing off. You could no longer scream. You needed air.

.

You gasped awake, sitting upright in your bed. Sans startled from the chair beside the bed, looking up from his book. He immediately jumped out of the chair and to your side, placing a hand on your shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Sans asked, concerned.

It was all too familiar. Your mind screamed and taunted and your skin itched of events that never happened. You grabbed at your head, bringing your knees to your chest and trying to remember how to breathe, how to be alive, how to _be_. This was _wrong_ so so _so_ wrong how was this _wrong_.

Your last memories were with Alphys and the needle-no, it was darkness-no, it was seeing your Soul shatter-no, it- You screamed, pressing harder at your head. It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.

"Calm down! It's okay! Everything is okay! You're safe in your home!" Sans sat on the bed in front of you, grabbing your wrists and forcing your hands away from your head. You looked at him, watching as he turned to dust-no, stayed solid in front of you. You snap your jaw shut, cutting off your scream. "Breathe." He locked unwavering eyes with you, willing you to follow what he said. "In… out. In… out." He spoke slowly, relaxing his grip on your wrists but not quite letting go. You swallowed and shakily breathed with his instructions. Your heart was hammering inside of your chest, shaking your entire being. "You are here. This is now." He said, rubbing his thumb along the inside of your wrist and continuing to instruct you how to breathe.

You breathed, not daring to look away from Sans. Every time your mind rushed to your memories Sans would lightly squeeze your wrists or say something to get your attention. "Stay in the present." He said, successfully jolting you from the memories longer than the other times. The two of you stayed that way for what felt like a few minutes, until you finally took a larger than usual breath, feeling your heart go back to its usual speed.

You closed your eyes and slumped, taking a few extra breaths. "T… thank you." You whispered, looking up and seeing Sans still looking concerned. "I-I don't… I don't know what…"

"It's okay, take it slow." He instructed, letting go of your wrists and rubbing your shoulder.

"You _died_ , Sans." You blurted out, remembering how clearly his bones turned to dust before your eyes. The hole in his head-the clothes falling-the dust catching the slight breeze-

"Stay with me." He ordered, halting your memory in its place, shocking you. "You reset. All of that never happened. Not yet, anyway." Your mind drew a blank, confused.

"What do you mean? It happened right in front of me. I saw you… and then I…" You stopped yourself to catch your breath, forcing yourself to calm down again. "I couldn't do anything to stop it…"

"That's not true. Because of you, it never happened." He brought a hand to your chin and lifted you to look him in the eyes again. "You changed what already happened. You _reset_." He strained on the word, almost looking scared to say it out loud. "I didn't think it could happen any more- I was so sure that after all of these months free from the underground I wouldn't have to worry, but…" He swallowed and shook his head.

"That's not important now. Just know that the other reality never happened, and you can _change_ it. All of the extra determination in your system must have given you the ability, like the kid." He explained, though you still couldn't wrap your head around it.

"I… time traveled?" You couldn't word it any other way. This wasn't fiction, time travel didn't exist outside of books and movies. …Did it?

"Not exactly. You reset. It's like all those video games; if you make a mistake you can load an old save, and change it." That seemed like too much power to have in reality, and Sans seemed to know it. He knew it rather… alarmingly well, actually.

"Can monsters… reset?" You asked, wondering how he knew.

"No. Some of us are crazy powerful, but not that crazy. So far the only other person I have ever seen be able to do that was the kid. Frisk reset the underground more than a few times." You could see Sans trying to keep a neutral face on as he said that, but could tell there was more to it.

"Except once you got to the surface…?"

"Sometimes even then. A few days on the surface with freedom was the most I've had before we were reset, and I was stuck in Snowdin again." His jaw tightened at that, clearly hitting a nerve. "Except for one time… it never came. The kid didn't reset, and I'm here now, months later. I was terrified for a while, afraid to get attached to anything, or make any friends, but then everything just stayed and…" His voice drifted, apparently not prepared to talk about it.

"Why were you afraid to make friends?" You asked, curious. Listening to him talk really helped you calm down. "If things just go backwards in time a bit, you two would still be able to meet up again-"

"No, we wouldn't. Or rather, they wouldn't." Sans cut you off, looking away. "No one else remembers resets. Even I can't remember everything that happened. It's fuzzy, and comes back in bits and pieces. Only the kid ever seemed to remember it all clearly. And now apparently, you." You felt a chill run down your spine.

"So… Papyrus and the others…?"

"Only remember up until the save." He confirmed.

"What day is today, then? Do we have to do some things the same to avoid paradoxes or something?" All of your experience from watching science fiction on tv came rushing back to you, adding to your concerns.

"No, we aren't time traveling remember, just… time editing. Today… is the day after you got injected with Determination, because you saw Gaster. Being so filled with Determination must have sparked a save point for you." You nodded, thinking about how this was days ago… but it was present now. Your head started hurting thinking about it.

"So… What do you remember?" You asked, looking at him. His eyes drifted a bit, trying to think.

"We fought… and you kept training. Everything is kinda a blur for me up until HP-" He cut himself off. "Yeah. Just to clarify, we don't need to fight this time 'round." He looked a bit hopeful, and you couldn't help but smile a little.

You pulled him in for a hug, filling with relief at how solid he was against you. "That's up to you, numbskull." You muttered, squeezing a little tighter before letting him go. "I think I promised to train with Undyne today… probably would be best if I kept that promise." You laughed nervously, trying your best not to visualize an angry fish lady busting down your door.

"Right. Well… How are you feeling now?"

"Moments ago I was exhausted, but… I feel energized again, somehow." That confused you a bit, it was as if your body was correcting itself. You knew that panic attacks usually took a lot out of a person, but-

"Must be the Determination still. Technically speaking you _did_ just wake up from being injected with it." He nodded, standing and offering a hand. "Let's get you some breakfast and head over to the beach."

You hoped this time things would work out, and took his hand.

.

"What the hell, human?!" Undyne shouted, bunches of cyan spears appearing and flying at you from all directions, only to get knocked aside by the green spear in your hand. It only made Undyne angrier, and she sent even more spears at you. "How are you so good already?! I haven't been able to hit you once yet!" She growled and sent more spears at you. You simply giggled and spun the spear, spinning around and adding a bit of flare to your defense. That only made Undyne angrier, if that was even possible.

"THAT'S IT!" She screamed, snapping the thick spear in her hands in half. Your spear vanished, shocking you. "HANDLE THIS, HUMAN!" She started running at you, and you immediately attempted to get the fuck out of there. As you were running across the soft sand you noticed blue circles appear on the ground around you, and you quickly got out of the way just in time for spears to burst up. You screamed, and continued running away from the angry fish. You were having the time of your life.

"THAT'S RIGHT HUMAN! RUN!" Undyne cackled antagonistically, sending more spears up at you. You hopped to the side just in time to avoid them, just barely keeping your balance. Attempting to keep your battle somewhat in the same location, you quickly turned and ran past Undyne, making sure to keep your distance from her. "ARE YOU TAUNTING ME?!" Her attacks came even stronger, always just too slow for your Determined self.

Laughter caught your attention, drawing your eyes to Sans, who was sitting on the ground beside the paper bag and getting a kick out of Undyne being so angry. You smiled, happy to have the old him back.

.

"That was great training today, human!" Papyrus pat you on the back as you entered the apartment hours later. "You fared so well against the Great and Mighty Papyrus, I must be a great teacher!" He dramatically posed for a second before rushing to the kitchen.

"Indeed you are, Papy." You agreed, flopping onto the couch. Undyne sat rather heavily on the other side, crossing her arms.

"Too good if you ask me. You didn't even struggle with me! How the hell?!" She looked at you, confused. "You seemed to know everything I would do, up until I started chasing you. That at least caught you off guard. Even then, I only ended up hitting you the couple times you got distracted by something. Though I didn't see what got your attention-I think it's just your lazy excuse to get hit." She snarled, and you couldn't hold back a laugh.

Sans shrugged and sat between the two of you. "Maybe humans are just that awesome. Didn't Frisk defeat you the first time you had an actual encounter?" Sans asked, winking at you.

"They didn't defeat me! They just… well, they were very effective at dodging my attacks, and then running away like a child!" She declared.

"Isn't Frisk a child?" You asked. She didn't have any counter for that.

"… Still." She muttered, reclining back further with a pout. You and Sans laughed a little, relaxing into the couch.

"I have prepared dinner for the four of us!" Papyrus announced, managing to hold four plates at once. "I had attempted to use your slow cooker, human! I do hope you like it!" He placed a plate of lasagna in front of you, and surprisingly it looked incredibly appetizing.

"Thanks Papyrus, I'm always happy to have your cooking." You smiled at him, and you could have sworn his cheekbones turned slightly pink before he attended to the others. You blew on a piece before biting in, and man oh man you weren't wrong. It tasted like he used an excessive amount of cheese, but it was amazing.

"Great job, Bro." Sans bit into the meal, shocking you. He was actually eating the pasta, instead of just playing with the food and making it vanish. Strange that him actually eating had you more confused than him not. Ah well, he was eating.

"All those cooking lessons finally paid off!" Undyne smiled, giving Papyrus a little punch of affection. The tall skeleton didn't seem to know what to do with all of the praise, acting like an overly excited puppy with his feet tapping. He quickly headed to the free chair and sat down, trying to keep his attention to his pasta. You chuckled a little, turning on the tv for everyone. Mettaton greeted all of you, and he used his leg to direct your attention to some new game that seemed to be imitating Jeopardy. Deciding it'd probably be cool to learn more about the monsters, you stayed on the channel.

.

"Another sleepover, oh boy!" Papyrus ran to the spare room, grabbing the mattress and dragging it to the living room.

"I don't need to stay over, it's no hassle to walk back to my place-" Undyne started, but you cut her off with a shake of your head.

"Not a chance. HP have been getting more active lately, and I'm not going to let you walk alone in the dark." You made yourself clear.

"… Fine. Then I get your roomie's awesome mermaid shirt." She declared, heading to the spare room to change into pajamas.

You laughed and headed to your own room to change. Tank top, shorts, boom. Instant pajama party wear. You slipped them on and looked at Samus, who was simply looking at you with an angled head. She seemed confused, an expression you haven't seen much on your snake. Considering a moment, you opened the lid and pulled her out, though she seemed rather bored in your hands.

A knock at your door got your attention. "Yes?" You asked. The door creaked open a bit, Sans looking in before opening it fully. "Hey."

"Hey." He smiled nervously, walking in and sitting on your bed. "I uh… just wanted to let you know that the reset… well, it's up to you what it means. Your choices matter to me, even if you didn't technically make a choice this time round." He started, and you figured out what he was getting at.

"I didn't need to make a choice this time round." You cleared up for him. "I brought up an issue with you, and you… well, you fixed it when given the chance. Thank you. I really do appreciate it." You smiled at him.

"So… we're still…?" He asked, uncertain.

You answered him with a kiss to his forehead. "Vertebaes. Come on, let's have that slumber party." You put Samus back down into her tank, though you saw her desperately reaching out and trying to get to Sans. You just chuckled and closed the lid before heading out of the room with the short skeleton.

Papyrus and Undyne had already set up the couch and mattress for optimal slumber party settings, watching some cartoon with colorful ladies fighting monsters. Not the real kind, thankfully, but ones that seemed to be giant centipedes. Papyrus and Undyne seemed hyped about it anyway.

You and Sans sat on the bed, leaning against the couch. He wrapped an arm around your waist, and you rested your head on his shoulder.

This was nice.


	28. Beach Day

You woke up on the couch of your living room, greeted with the orange walls of light filtering in from the window beside you. Hm, you didn't remember when the window got new glass, but now that you've noticed it you almost missed the bones. You gave a soft chuckle and slowly stretched, feeling restricted. You heard Sans grumble.

Blinking in surprise, you looked down and saw him asleep on your chest, one hand under your back and one lightly grabbing from under your shoulder, legs draped over yours. You held back a laugh when you realized this was almost an exact opposite arrangement of last time the two of you slept on the couch together. Papyrus and Undyne were sound asleep on the spare mattress, Undyne currently curled completely around her pillow aggressively. Even in her sleep, she seemed angry. Though to be fair, she was probably missing the comfortable dinosaur she usually had sleeping in bed with her.

You couldn't help but to smile when you looked back at Sans. He looked so at peace, and so comfortable sleeping on you, that you were having a hard time resisting the urge to do absolutely nothing. You were still a bit tired, but you decided against drifting back off and instead promptly curled as much as you could to give his skull a small kiss.

He hummed a bit, eye sockets blinking slightly open and looking up at you, giving you a long squeeze by using his stretch to his advantage. "Hey." He whispered, wiggling a little and getting comfortable on you again. You wrapped your arms around him, pulling him slightly up and giving him another kiss on his forehead.

"Hey." You whispered back, smiling. He chuckled quietly, either aware of the other sleeping monsters or just too tired to have any more volume. The two of you laid there for a long moment, sleep tickling the back of your mind again, almost enough to pull you into the darkness. Sans took a deep breath, pushed heavily with his arms, and brought himself up an extra inch before flopping back on you, giving a light kiss to your neck. Maximum effort.

You felt yourself blush a bit, giving him another tight hug through more of your stretching. Wow, the two of you were really giving it your all this morning. You gave a single amused, breathy huff at the thought, closing your eyes again.

"Wha's funny?" Sans mumbled into your shoulder, not even bothering to look up at you.

"Nothing." You tilted your head, resting it slightly on his. He sluggishly pulled his hand out from under your back, lightly patting your face a couple times before placing it properly on your cheek, using just the ends of his fingers and thumb to rub comfortingly. You opened your eyes a crack to look at him, and he rolled his head to look at you. He gently smiled, pulling your head down to kiss you properly on the lips.

It never failed to shock you how warm the skeleton was. It was never uncomfortable for you, even in your moderately warm room, but it was always so soothing. It felt rather nice, actually. You closed your eyes, kissing him again, longer. There was no way to describe kissing the magical skeleton. It felt almost like a normal person, but at the same time more solid, and almost more… comfortable than human kisses? Your sleepy mind lazily scrambled to try to find a way to describe it, as if you _needed_ to find out how to word it. So obviously the only clear path ahead of you was to keep kissing the skeleton until you found the words. _Obviously_.

You felt Sans adjust his weight, shifting a knee to closer to your hip and more weight to his arm under your shoulder. He pushed himself up slightly, kissing you somewhat more insistently from above, letting a slight groan from the back of his throat escape. One of your hands lifted up to grab where his stomach would have been, only to loosely grip a couple of his lower ribs. You felt his entire body shudder a moment, pressing harder into the current kiss-

"Human? Sans?" The two of you immediately froze as if someone dumped cold water on you. Your eyes opened, looking to the side to see Undyne with a case of crazy bedhead, sleepily rubbing her bad eye as her eyebrow lowered. "Do you mind keeping it quiet? You guys are making so much noise." You were?!

Your face immediately turned twenty shades redder as you broke the kiss, eyes wide. You completely forgot you two were in the living room with others. Sans seemed to have also forgotten, though he didn't seem to be quite as embarrassed as you were about it.

"My bad, sorry about that." Sans gave a sheepish smile. Undyne rolled her eyes and flopped back onto the mattress, pulling the pillow over her head.

"Fuckin' showoff." You heard her mutter from under the pillow. You glanced to Papyrus, who was still asleep with a smile on his face, thank goodness. That would have been a lot more awkward if he was the one that woke up.

Sans gave you a quick kiss to the cheek before settling down to your side again, quickly getting comfortable. You wish you could say the same for yourself, your heart was still hammering. Either from getting caught, or how heated that kiss was becoming… Sans didn't seem to mind. He rested his head on your chest, goofy smile plastered to his face, obviously enjoying your hammering heart too much. After a moment he looked up at you, face shifting from his usual smile to a slightly more forced one.

"You are still holding my ribs." He said quietly, drawing your attention to said ribs. Oh shit, he was right. You quickly let go, startled. He chuckled. "Don't worry, we'll get a chance to finish that up later." He winked at you and relaxed back onto your chest. Your heart gave an extra beat at that.

Right.

 _Later_.

.

The rest of the morning was rather uneventful. Sans somehow managed to fall asleep immediately, leaving you to daydream for a while until the others finally stirred from sleep. They got up and made breakfast, though you were unable to help. The lazy skeleton suddenly was a lot harder to disturb, not even dishes clanging together woke him. Eventually you got hungry as well, so you gave him a quick kiss on his forehead when the others weren't looking. Lo and behold, sleeping beauty awoke. You promptly called him a Lazybones and the two of you had breakfast while discussing possible plans for the day.

How the conversation managed to lead you guys to the beach, even you weren't entirely sure. Probably Undyne's idea, now that you thought back to it. Either way, the four of you all had bags on your backs and swimsuits under your clothes as you headed to the beach. You have no idea where the skeleton brothers managed to get swimsuits, but you weren't going to question it.

"Darlings! It is so good to see all of you!" Mettaton smiled and waved you guys over to him and Alphys. He was wearing the same outfit he was last time you saw him on the beach, and you noticed the cameras all around. Right, his photo shoot.

"Mettaton!" Papyrus ran over to him, picking him up in a hug.

"Oh! Careful, Papy darling!" Mettaton managed to catch his large hat before it fell off. He laughed and returned the embrace. "How have you all been?" He asked, looking over the group once he was put down. Papyrus just seemed all too happy to sit next to the robot.

"Great! The human has been training with Undyne and I, and is an incredibly fast learner!" Papyrus announced, placing a gloved hand on your head. You smiled nervously at the unexpected praise.

"Oh, is that so?" Mettaton raised an eyebrow. "I'd offer to help out, but my human hunting days are done." He gave you a wink. You nodded, having heard that line before.

"Ready, Mettaton?" A familiar voice asked, shocking you.

"Sans?" You asked, looking behind you.

"What?" Sans looked at you with a raised eyebrow, and the two of you looked towards where the other voice came from. A young man with dark hair loaded in camera gear walked up to Mettaton with a clipboard. You blinked, getting confused.

"Here are the waivers. If we take pictures of others we'll need them to sign." He said, handing the clipboard to Mettaton. The human's voice sounded eerily like Sans', confusing the both of you for a moment.

Mettaton apparently didn't hear the similarity. "Thank you, Eugene darling." He flashed one of his MTT brand smiles at the human, taking the clipboard and turning to you. "Alright beauties and gentle-beauties, sign these for me so I can show you off to the world!" Mettaton handed you a pen, and figuring there'd be no harm, you signed away.

Everyone else signed as well, before unpacking their bags and getting themselves situated on the beach. It seemed like a lot more people were here today now that you weren't training with monsters. Well, that would make sense. No one wants to suntan and potentially get a spear in their back.

Sans pulled out a large blue towel, laying it across the sand. "Aren't you going to swim?" You asked, pulling off your shirt and slipping out of your pants, leaving just your swimsuit. You rarely used it, but you were glad you had it for occasions like this.

"Heheh… Do you think I can swim?" He asked, looking at you with a smirk. "I wouldn't be able to even float, let alone doggy paddle." He looked amused at the thought. You suppose that did make sense, him being bones and all. Despite not planning on swimming, he pulled off his jacket and shirt, left only in swimming shorts. He was just bones, a plain skeleton, yet you felt oddly flustered seeing his ribs bare. Sans chuckled, apparently amused at your reaction. You quickly looked away, but he only chuckled. "Aw, don't be so stern-um. I'm just bare bones here!" You couldn't help but give a quick laugh at that.

"Right, well, I'm going to go for a quick dip. I'll be back." You said, quickly heading to the water. Papyrus was already standing in the water with some swimming boxers and one of those swimming shirts, asking Mettaton to join him in the water.

"Papy darling… as much as I'd love to, I'm afraid it would be rather… shocking to everyone else." Mettaton gave an awkward smile to the tall skeleton. "But don't worry! This is great for a photo!" He turned to you. "Go on, get in the water and look like you are having fun~" He winked at you, adjusting his hat as Eugene set up a tripod. "Papy darling, put this flower in your mouth! Red is such a good shade for you!" He threw a rose at Papyrus, who somehow caught the flower perfectly between his teeth.

"Everyone say Mettaton!" Eugene said, readying the camera.

"Mettaton!" The three of you said, and the camera clicked.

.

After splashing Papyrus a bit in the cool water and taking a few more photos with Mettaton, you got back onto the sand and made your way back to Sans. He was leaning back on the towel, seeming to be asleep in the shade of an umbrella. You flopped onto your towel, enjoying the heat that it soaked up from being in the sun. Sans was snoring, so you turned your attention to the rest of the beach. Plenty of others were here, though it seemed like it was mostly humans clustered tightly together, away from monsters. Unfortunate for the Nice Cream rabbit, it looked like. Only a couple monsters bothered going up to buy some of the sweet treat, though it seemed like none of the humans did. There were two kids, one bunny monster and one human, playing in the water together, up until the human mother called her child away.

One pair however, caught your attention. "Asgore?" You asked, looking across the sand and seeing a large white-furred monster, tiny crown resting between two horns. He was sharing tea with a pale young woman with short pink hair who was wearing a black crop-top of a sort. You couldn't help but appreciate her killer makeup. You would have questioned the whole 'having tea on the beach' enough, but you didn't recognize the human. You wondered who she was, but you didn't have much of an excuse to walk up to the Monster King while he was apparently on vacation. Maybe you could tell him about HP… Though you weren't sure what he would be able to do. You might even just end up getting him in trouble, and that would not be good for anyone.

Whoever the lady was, Asgore seemed very interested in their conversation, even giving a bellowing laugh that managed to cut across the distance. It was rather cute, seeing the massive Monster King act casual in public.

"H-hey Sans, you messaged me?" Alphys' voice came up from behind, and you turned to see her standing beside Sans. You noticed her wearing a cute polka-dotted one-piece, and had blue lipstick marks to the side of her left cheek. Sans was still laying down, but he peeked open an eye when she spoke.

"Yep. Figured you should be in on our little secret." Sans said casually, sitting up and stretching. You wondered what he meant, but he waved you closer.

The three of you sat down in the shade, far enough away from everyone else that you could talk comfortably without worry of someone overhearing accidentally. Sans scratched his cheek a moment, looking for the right words.

"Hey Alphys, have you had any déjà vu lately?"

"Déjà vu? Uh, not quite." She seemed concerned, though confused. "Why?"

Sans paused a moment, as if preparing himself more than anything else. "There's been a reset." There was a moment of silence as that sentence registered with Alphys.

"What? I thought that was impossible now?!"

"Apparently not, but thankfully, it was done by them." Sans pointed to you, making you feel a bit awkward when Alphys looked at you in awe.

"Wait, you did the reset? How? How far back are we?" She asked, you could practically see the gears in work in her head.

"Yeah, I did apparently. We are like… three days back, I think? I didn't mean to reset time or anything… I just ended up… dying." The last bit felt strange to say, and you felt like not too many people actually got to say that sentence.

"How did this happen?" Alphys looked horrified, but you could tell she was mentally writing everything you said down.

"HP attacked us, and ended up killing Sans. I was hurt, but my Soul ended up breaking soon as the blue band vanished… then suddenly I woke up the day after you injected me with determination." You summed your death up rather quickly. You hoped it would have been at least a half page worth in the paper if it was permanent, but apparently not.

"So my theory was right, then… Without Sans' magic support, you'd die." She thought a moment. "Then in that case, your Soul shattering triggered the reset back to the Determination injection… Meaning if your Soul doesn't break, you won't be able to reset." She looked at her fingers as if looking at answers in her head. "So that means… Even if you died, your Soul wouldn't break unless Sans was also dead." That shocked the two of you.

"So… If my Soul doesn't break, then… I don't die?" You asked, a bit confused on the subject.

"No, you'd still die, you'd just be… a stubborn Soul hanging around, ready for any monster to pick it up. Most human Souls can hang in the open for a while before shattering, though it appears ones with Determination as their defining trait are much more fragile, and need to be picked up immediately in order to be absorbed." Alphys pushed up her glasses. "Meaning… If you die and Sans is still alive… There is no chance of you making a reset, and you would only be making a monster stronger."

The thought sent a shiver down your spine. "Right. No dying, the usual plan then."

Sans nodded, agreeing. "Usual plan." The whole subject still felt so alien to you, your mind kept bouncing between thoughts. "But in other news," Sans started, sidetracking from the dark conversation. "I did take a few hits before I died."

You wondered why he said that like it was a good thing, but apparently Alphys knew, and she gasped. "Oh! Really!?" She asked excitedly. Sans nodded with a smile, glancing towards you. Alphys jumped up with a squeal, apparently absolutely happy about Sans getting beat up before dying?

"I just knew you two would be a great OTP!" She couldn't stop smiling, and actually looked like a fangirl for the two of you? What was going on? "So proud of you Sans! I can't believe your-"

"Oh Alphys, darling! I'm done with my photo shoot! As much as I love being close to water as a metal and electricity-based robot, I do think I'd prefer rehearsing for my next show." Mettaton interrupted, walking up to the three of you. "Oh my, something secretive is happening here, isn't there?" He asked, looking intrigued.

"Don't worry about it! I'll see you guys later, okay? So happy!" Alphys gave the two of you thumbs up before pulling Mettaton towards the fancy pink car that drove up to the curb. Undyne quickly finished gathering her stuff and followed the short dinosaur, apparently wanting to keep with her girlfriend.

"So… care to explain what that was about?" You asked Sans. He shrugged.

"It's a monster thing, I'll tell you later." He smiled and laid back onto his towel, apparently planning on sleeping the entire time you guys were at the beach.

"Don't strain yourself sleeping so much, you should take a break some time." You joked. Sans gave a laugh and waved a lazy hand at you, as if to say 'go have fun.' Accepting the command, you headed to the water again to splash around with Papyrus some more. Papyrus appeared to really like the company now that Mettaton left, and splashed you using magic bones. You laughed, splashing back.

The sun reflected harshly from the water, sending sparkles into the air whenever one of you splashed. It was beautiful. Though one time as you were watching the shining air, your eyes focused on a flower that was on the beach. A flower, with a rather unhappy face.


	29. Crown Day

Your eyes locked with Flowey's for a moment, drawing all of your attention. He looked… almost sad. It was a strange expression to see on the flower, but before you could do anything about it another large splash hit you square on, sending you back a couple steps in the shallow water.

"NYEHEHEHEH! Rule number two of combat: NEVER TURN YOUR BACK TO YOUR ENEMY!" Papyrus declared, more magic bones flying down at the water, causing a miniature wave to topple over you. You did your best to stand your ground, giving him a quick splash back once you got the water from your eyes. "Rule number one is to always be yourself and have fun!" He smiled, putting his hands on his hips.

"Of course." You nodded as if thanking a wise teacher for his information, and promptly leapt at Papyrus to try and pull him under the water. You managed to grab onto his left shoulder, but apparently he was much stronger than you thought. And apparently taller than you remembered.

"Interesting technique!" He admired, looking at you as you hung from his shoulder, completely unfazed. You adjusted your feet to stand on his hipbone, pulling at his shoulder and trying to use your own weight to pull him over. How in the world was he still standing fine?

"Come on! You are supposed to fall!" You gritted your teeth, bouncing and leaning as much as you could without falling off yourself.

"Oh! My apologies!" Papyrus looked surprised, finally realizing what you were doing, and immediately started leaning.

"Waitwaitwai-blllgggghhhh!" You flailed as the skeleton fell on top of you into the water, realizing your mistake too late. Some of the salty water rushed up your nose, burning the inside of your mouth a bit before you were pulled out of the water, sputtering.

"There we go! Was that satisfactory?" Papyrus asked, goofy grin on his face. You coughed a bit, trying your hardest to smile back to the skeleton.

"Yes you- _cough_ -did great, Papyrus." You pat him on his arm. He looked proud of himself and you couldn't help but laugh a little. "I need some- _cough_ -time on land. You can keep playing though." You smiled to him and started heading for shore. Papyrus seemed disappointed for a moment, before sending more bones into the water and splashing around him. How in the world did people still think monsters were a threat?

You scanned the sand for the flower again, but he was nowhere in sight. Instead, you noticed a semi transparent, amorphous monster beside Sans under the umbrella. You felt a familiar shiver down your spine and quickly, but calmly, headed towards it.

"What are you doing?" You asked quietly to the monster… Gaster, you remembered. It seemed shocked that you saw it, jumping slightly and tucking its head more into its dark body. It looked between you and Sans for a moment, before 'standing up' again, pointing a holed hand to Sans. He was still asleep, but you could tell he was likely in the middle of a nightmare. Hands balled into fists, body shaking ever so slightly, mouth twisted into a frown.

You felt a dull anger build inside of you, and being this close to the monster was dulling the sensation in your hands to dull static at your fingertips. "Are you doing that?" You asked, kneeling by Sans. Gaster held out his hands and rolled his head side to side slightly. Whispers of some other language started teasing the edges of your mind, but you tried your best to ignore it. "Go on, shoo. You're giving him nightmares." You focused on Sans, resting a hand onto his skull. The effects were immediate, and Sans' features softened and relaxed just at your touch.

Gaster leaned down, tilting his head while looking between the two of you, a twisted smile replacing his worried frown. His mouth opened. "HerrISPeN heem IEM pleb whuEEb." His strange voice clashed with itself, sounding like itself was something that didn't belong in this reality. Smiling even more, he backed up out of the shadows, and vanished into the sunlight, taking the numbness and the whispers with him.

Exhaustion hit you like a truck, suddenly feeling like you just finished running a marathon. Your nerves felt almost painfully oversensitive now that you could feel again. You took a few breaths and closed your eyes, trying to calm yourself.

"Hmm?" Sans hummed under you, shifting slightly. You pulled back your hand and looked down at him, seeing him crack open his eye sockets. "Oh, hey there."

You forced a smile. "Hey. How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty good I guess, I was having a decent dream until something happened… I can't quite remember it. But I guess it got better again before you woke me up, so that's something." He sat up, stretching. He smiled at you a moment before noticing something off. "Hey… everything okay?"

You nodded, sitting back and trying to keep your nerves under control. "Yeah. Just, uh, had to scare away Gaster when you were sleeping." You gave a quick laugh, deciding it would be best to be honest.

"Oh. That explains the dream then, heh." Sans rubbed the back of his head. "You don't have to worry about him, just so you know. He used to hate humans, but now he's kinda… cool with them, I guess. Not like he can do much either way. He doesn't exist here, so there's no shame in ignoring him if he's just… around." Sans tried explaining.

"Wasn't he your brother? Doesn't this… upset you?" You asked, somewhat confused that his main reaction to a haunting brother would be to 'ignore him.'

"If you haven't noticed by now, it can get kind of hard to feel anything around him. I've been dealing with this for many years by now, it just got old. Though to be honest, I'm surprised you're taking it so well." He looked confused.

"Ha… I guess I was just more worried what he was doing to you than anything else. I didn't want you going through another Gaster Blaster transformation if I could help it." You ran a hand through your hair, trying not to think more about those days. Sans nodded, agreeing. He started to stand up, but you kept sitting on the sand. "Besides… he does seem pretty chill now. He even tried speaking to me."

Sans froze. "What?"

"You know, he looked at me and was all 'bloop blop eeeep' and stuff." You tilted your head for every mock word for Gaster, trying your best to impersonate the blob monster.

"Do you know exactly what he said?" Sans asked, looking rather concerned. You regretted not paying more attention to the gibberish.

"Uh, no, I have no idea. Sorry, to be honest it sounded like random sounds." You shook your head, and Sans only looked more worried.

"That's… okay. Most of the time it is just nonsense, but he lives in an entirely different plane of existence so you can't always be sure." Sans held out a hand for you, and you accepted it, pulling yourself up. "For now though, maybe it'd be a good idea to relax back at home.

"Right." You nodded. Sans called out to Papyrus as you rolled up the towel, and the three of you started heading home.

.

The walk was rather uneventful, mostly Papyrus excitably talking about Mettaton, and how he was eager to see the pictures when they were done. He was such a positive monster, it felt contagious and gave you a smile as well.

Once you got to the door to your apartment however, you remembered seeing Flowey look upset back at the beach. "Actually," you started, opening the door and letting the brothers in. "I think I'm going to… train. With a friend."

"You sure?" Sans asked, seeming slightly uncertain about you going before catching himself. "Well, grab something to snack on at least. You want me to come with and watch?" He asked, heading to the kitchen.

"No, thank you though. We'll mostly be talking anyway." You grabbed the clothes you brought from the beach and slipped them on over your swimsuit now that you were dry again.

"Okay, sounds good. Though, if it starts getting dark, best just stay with them, alright? Text me if you need anything, and I'll be there before you can blink." Sans walked back to you, handing you a paper bag with a wink and smile. You smiled back.

"Sure thing, vertebae." You gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and left the apartment with the paper bag in hand. Closing the door, you stretched, feeling a slight excitement at thinking of seeing Flowey again. Who knows what you two would do today. You weren't entirely feeling up for a fight, but you did want to at least talk to the flower. Maybe figure out why he looked sad. Did he remember resets as well?

You turned to walk down the sidewalk, freezing a few yards away from the alleyway entrance. Your heart hammered, and the world seemed to darken slightly as you stared at a part of the sidewalk. The buildings around you shifted, seeming like everything solid suddenly sputtered, squares of misplaced color floating in the air for fractions of a second at a time. Sans was on the ground, but then with a flicker he wasn't. Ugly voices echoed without a source, all-too-familiar lines being spoken.

A gunshot.

You yelped, stepping back with newfound control of your body. Gaster stood in front of you, head tilting. Your body was numb already from his presence, but he simply stood within inches of you, looking down at you with hollow droopy eyes and a slight smile. You couldn't help but notice that he seemed much more real than back at the beach.

He stared at you for a moment, before turning his attention to the road. He looked to his left, then right, and left again before finally crossing the road. He moved a bit like a slug, you observed, though you've never seen a slug that big, or dark, or fast, or actually made of slime… okay, not much like a slug, but you were trying your best to compare him to _something_ real. Once he got to the other side he turned and looked at you.

"Oh." You blinked, realizing he thought you were following. You looked both ways before jaywalking after him. The further you got from the alleyway the better you felt, and the world felt more solid in general. Gaster nodded to you, walking-well… rolling? Sliming? How does one move when made of slime? Well, however they do, he continued to do it down the sidewalk.

"Gaster?" You stepped beside him, and he looked down at you. It was rather startling when he did, as his body didn't shift around and bend to look at you, like most bodies. Instead his mask-like face simply moved across the slime till it faced you, sending a chill down your spine. "Are you a good guy?" You asked, unsure. He only smiled, mask shifting back up to normal position like he was looking where he was going.

"Okay. Just wanted to make sure." You walked with the monster, trying your best not to stare at him while you were in public. It seemed like no one else could see him, yet a man talking on his cellphone appeared to consciously walk around him. You continued to quietly walk beside him until the park became visible, and he suddenly vanished.

Feelings returned, along with some exhaustion. You tried to shake it off, and stepped into the trees of the park.

"Hehehehehe…. What are you doing back here?" A voice moved around you as you crossed into the trees, making your way to the clearing.

"Figured I should chat with my friend." You said loud and clear for the flower, breaking into the clearing. Flowers of all kinds we growling beautifully, giving you an idea.

"…Friend?" Flowey's rough voice softened, and he appeared beside you. "You… remember?" He asked, seeming confused.

"Of course." You kneel down by the flower, looking at his startled face. It was strange, his entire face shape seemed able to shapeshift, and looked slightly longer than usual. "I figured we could talk. All we've really done so far is spar, and friendships need more than that." You give him a quick pat on the head before standing.

"I… but… Really?" He seemed confused, face shifting back to its old self. "Why the sudden change of heart? How can you remember the reset?!" He demanded, ducking under the ground and appearing beside you.

You shrugged and walked towards the willow, grabbing a few pretty flowers here and there. "No idea." You said as casually as you could, deciding to hold onto the proper answer for later, and continuing to grab pretty flowers.

"And…. you're cool with it?!" Flowey reappeared in front of you, utterly confused. You nodded, walking past him and sitting against the willow tree, placing the flowers beside you. He appeared to your other side. "Oh." He seemed at a loss for words. "So… you really just wanted to talk to me?" He asked.

"Yep." You answered, grabbing two of the flowers with longer stems and started to tie them together. "I want to know more about you." You give him a smile, pulling the knot of the stems tight and grabbing another flower.

"There isn't much to say about me, I'm just-"

"Just a flower that was left in the underground all alone." You finished repeating what he said when the two of you first met. "I think 'just a flower' is enough to start with. There aren't any other flower monsters that I've seen, and these flowers certainly are not sentient beings." You motioned to the chain of flowers you were tying together. "So you aren't a monster, not a human, and most definitely not 'just a flower.'" You put down the flowers for a moment, looking at him. "So… What are you?"

He was frozen, baffled by you. "You… you think you're so clever, don'tcha?!" He suddenly asked as if he was offended.

"Yeah." You reply plainly, completely catching him off guard. Again.

"Well! ….You aren't entirely wrong." He admitted, looking away. "But I really am just… a flower. I don't have a Soul like you or other monsters out there." He sank slightly into the ground.

"How'd you lose it?" You asked, continuing to tie flowers together.

"Wha-what? How'd you know about that?!" He jerked up, looking at you with a panicked expression.

"A guess. You said you 'forgot' that folks with Souls need to give permission for it. So that means you either were in a friendly enough relationship with someone to learn that, or you had one in the first place. Seeing how you were a ' _lonely_ little flower left in the underground,' I figured if you had a friendly relationship with someone then they wouldn't have left you alone for all that time. So, I figured you had a Soul at one point. Then there's the way you reacted to the question, soooooo…." You spun a finger in the air. "I made connections."

Flowey looked shocked, like you had beaten him at his own game. "You really are clever…" He mumbled under his breath. "But why should I tell you that sort of thing?! It's not like I know your life story!" He yelled at you, and you simply dropped the small flower crown onto his head, stopping his anger short.

"We'll take turns. You first."


	30. Talk Day

Authors note: Reminder that I am currently trying to save up money so I can attend Anime Midwest in July, so commissions for Sans Nights are Open! Name your price! Message me via tumblr (madlyinlov3onda) if you are interested!

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* * *

"Wait, you mean you guys keep aging, even if you don't have children?" The look of absolute disbelief filled Flowey's face, causing you to laugh even harder than you already had been.

"Please! That can't be _that_ much of a shock!" You struggled to tie the final knot in the flower crown you were working on before dropping it on Flowey's head. He already had four others on, partially falling off or simply too big to wear on his head, but at this point he was so into your conversation that he didn't seem to notice them anymore. "I already told you what human food does-"

"Completely gross things! How pointless! Having food that doesn't even have magic in it… and it goes all the way through you?! What even is the point?!" Flowey's leaves grabbed at his head, completely repulsed at the thought of human food. The subject reminded you that eating so much monster food lately has left you not using the bathroom much, and the thought concerned you mildly. There were no negative effects that you could see… yet. There really weren't any studies on the long term effects of humans living on monster food, so it was rather uncertain if there was any possible dangers.

"It's how we're made. We have functioning organs that need to process non-magical things in order to turn it into energy." You explained again, having a hard time talking through your laughter.

"All of this sounds completely fake! You are just making it up to gross me out!" Flowey demanded, and you only giggled and shook your head. "Chara never told me about this stuff…" He looked down, almost a bit betrayed.

You looked at the dark sky, a few stars peeking through despite the light pollution of the city. There were lightning bugs all around, even more than when you had come here with Sans, and you assumed that it had something to do with all of the flowers and the peace you and Flowey had created, but it was still strange to see so many. It was strange here in general. The willow was completely overgrown in vines and hanging flowers you'd never seen before, adding to its beauty but at the same time making it all the more alien to you.

"So… your turn. Are you finally going to tell me about Chara? You keep talking about them, but never actually _about_ them." You looked back to the Flowey, plucking a couple pretty flowers near him.

Flowey hesitated. "They were… my sibling. _The original human_ , they were often called. They were the first to fall down after monsters were trapped underground, and… well… we took pity on them. I begged mom and dad for help, since they were hurt, and we took them in. They treated me like a real brother." You saw Flowey smile a little, thinking about it. "Everything was great. We'd play with dad's camera, explore in the ruins, bake pies-" He stopped short, smile fading.

"And?" You asked, having lost interest in your current flower crown and instead only focusing on Flowey. The two of you have been talking for hours on end, but he never froze like he did now. Of course he was very good at keeping away from personal stuff. He mostly talked about monster life in general, and how magnificent the Underground was. You in turn only replied with the basics of humanity, only giving personal details when it happened to be a funny story or earn a strong reaction out of Flowey.

"And… I guess you finally get to know how I ended up as a flower…" He lowered himself, curling up his stem a little. "I… I used to be Asriel Dreemurr."

He stopped, letting the name sink in for a moment. "Wait… Dreemurr…. Isn't that the king's name?" You asked, trying to think about it.

"Yep." Flowey nodded slowly and looked down. "That's my dad. He and Toriel are my parents, and we all took care of Chara. One day Chara and I made some pie for dad, using buttercups instead of actual cups of butter…" Small yellow flowers started blooming around Flowey, fascinating you. "He got really sick. He got better! But… and they..."

You noticed the slight tremble Flowey had in his petals. "Flowey?" You asked, putting down the flower crown and sitting closer to him, holding a hand near his leaves. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it, I understand."

He put his head in your hand, using it like a pillow. "No… you don't understand. _No one_ understood except for _them_. I… I _died_!" He looked up at you with a pained expression, looking like he was ready to cry.

You nodded, rubbing his cheek with your thumb. "I guess that makes two of us." You tried to comfort him, letting him know you went through death too. It probably was a completely different experience, if his current state was anything to go by, but you wanted him to know you would try to understand.

He stared at you a moment, before gradually looking down at the ground again. "I'm sorry about that. I… I didn't mean to kill you back then, honest. I just-"

"Oh, I was talking about the other time. I forgot that you killed me too, technically…" You blinked, looking up at the flowers hanging from the willow. "Hm. I suppose I've died twice now."

You looked back down at Flowey, and he was looking wide-eyed at you. "When did you die a second time?!" He demanded, and you realized you hadn't told him yet.

"Oh, the reset. That was me." You said nonchalantly. Flowey kept staring at you, so you expanded a little. Apparently it was your turn now. "Uh, well, I was walking back to my place after we trained, and HP ended up killing me right outside my home." It surprised you how casually you were able to talk about your death. Flowey, on the other hand, was not taking it well. "I woke up a few days in the past, and apparently caused a reset."

"And… Smiley Trashbag didn't stop it?!" His features sharpened, anger visibly building.

"Well… no, he really couldn't. They killed him first." You bit your lip at that. "Actually… I think his death caused my own, but I probably would have bled to death anyway." You rubbed the back of your head, trying not to relive the moments before your soul had shattered. The life leaving Sans' body, bones crumbling-

"Those _S_." Flowey's voice unexpectedly doubled over itself, snapping you out of the memory. Vines all around you suddenly came alive with movement, coiling into themselves.

"Flowey?" You asked, pulling back your hand, startled from the change of tone. A vine wrapped around your throat, picking you up and holding you against the willow's trunk. You gasped, grabbing at the thick vine and flailing, trying to breathe.

" _NO ONE GETS TO KILL YOU WITHOUT_ MY _PERMISSION_." Flowey's twisting face was in front of yours, dark and broken and driving fear into your core. The vine around your throat vanished, dropping you into the bed of flowers, and you gasped for the air, filling your lungs as much as you could. When you looked up, Flowey was gone, along with a large majority of the vines. A few lingered, tangled up in the tree and thin, broken.

You tried to steady your breath, looking around the clearing with darting eyes and trying to see where he went. "Fl…Flowey?!" You called out, standing and turning around, not seeing him anywhere. You did however, notice that most of the flora around the willow was overtaken by little yellow flowers.

.

"Mmmmm…. Vertebae?" Sans tired voice asked from the other side of the phone, to your relief. "It's two in the morning…"

"I know, I'm sorry." You tried your best to keep your voice steady and calm. You didn't know it was two, though. Your time with Flowey didn't leave much of an impression of time on you, other than the concept of 'late.' "I… I need you to pick me up, okay?" You asked, shifting your weight on the bench you sat on. You had left the clearing immediately, not sure if you wanted to be there when Flowey got back, but you couldn't bring yourself to leave the park while it was dark out. So now, you sat on a bench under a lamp.

"Where are you? Are you hurt?" Sans' voice asked, suddenly much more awake than it was seconds ago.

"I'm… I'm good. I'm at the park, on the bench beside the main path. You know the one where if you-" Your explanation got cut short when the small skeleton suddenly appeared in front of you, causing you to scream and almost drop the phone.

"Sorry! Sorry, I should have given you a warning. Shit, I'm sorry." Sans held out his hands in a calming manner, showing you that it was just him. You put a hand to your racing heart, leaning over slightly; you were already worn out _before_ he'd given you a heart attack.

"It's… it's okay. Thank you for coming." You swallowed, taking a breath and looking back up at him. He looked worried, and rather confused.

"What..." He stepped closer, looking you over. A hand reached out and touched the two flower crowns still on your head. "What happened?"

You stood up, unsure what to say. "The talk got intense. Can we go home?" You asked, looking around in the darkness. The lightning bugs stayed inside the clearing, making the rest of the park look rather eerie. Sans nodded, wrapping his arms around you in a hug.

The world suddenly tightened, spinning for a moment before everything was too still. You stomach was whirling around, and the floor of your room felt like it was at a slant. It was like coming to a dead stop after spinning around and around on a tire swing, and it threw you completely off balance.

"O-oooh." You tried to say, stumbling a little. Sans was there to catch you, and he helped support your weight and guided you to sit on the edge of the bed before retrieving your waste bin from across the room and placing it in your hands.

"Thank you, but I don't think I need-" You were _going_ to say that you didn't need to throw up, that you were alright, but your words were interrupted with a sick heave. Sans rubbed your back, using his other hand to make sure no hair got in your way.

Thankfully there wasn't much for you to throw up, and the feeling passed quickly enough. "Ugh." You spat, taking a breath.

"Yeah. You'll eventually get use to it." Sans said, rubbing your back a bit. Part of you doubted it. The two of you stayed in that position for a while, making sure your queasiness was really gone, before you finally put the bin down. Sans stood and started taking the bag out. "Go on, brush your teeth and get ready for bed. We could use some sleep." He gave you a slight smile, so you gave one back.

You did as he said, grabbing pajamas and doing your nightly routine. Your flower crowns were a mess and already falling apart, so you tried your best to get all of the flowers out of your hair, dropping them into the trash. They'd be bad in a day or so, no point in saving them. Heading back to your room, you saw Sans already sitting on the bed. He was wearing a 'Bone Tired' t-shirt and some shorts as that you didn't recognize. He must have picked up from his own place. He saw you come in, but stayed silent, simply patting the bed before laying down himself.

You crawled under the covers, but you couldn't help but to notice that it was rather cold without the skeleton curling around you.

.

A car alarm went off, startling you awake. The digital clock on your nightstand said [12:41pm], and your bed was empty beside you. Not quite feeling awake enough to take on the day yet, you took your phone from the nightstand, scrolling through social media. News usually woke you up fast enough.

Perhaps too quickly, today however.

You felt your eyes widen as you looked at the images that littered your screen. [Monster Controversy Over Human Murders] one of them was titled. ['Human Only' Bar Attacked] along with [Three Humans Killed, Two Wounded, Monsters to Blame]. The images consisted of some bar being completely taken over by vines. The name of the establishment was completely hidden, windows broken, door unhinged. A few pictures showed the inside of the bar, which looked even worse. One of the action shots showed a couple biker-type men getting patched up by paramedics, and another showed them carrying out bodies. You noticed a couple of the jackets had HP patched onto them.

"Oh good, you're awake." You jumped, slamming your phone face-down onto the mattress and looking up at the voice. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Sans seemed startled. "You… uh, up for a talk?" He asked, almost nervous.

"Talk?" You sat up, looking at him. He nodded, walking into the room and closing the door.

He kept his back to you for a moment before taking a breath and looking down. "I'm just going to be direct here… I don't like you training with Flowey. At all, in fact."

That shocked you. Well, not the whole 'not liking Flowey' bit, but rather the fact he knew. "What?"

"I get it, you are your own person and all that, and that's perfectly _fine_." He turned around, concern filling his face. "But this is _crazy_ , you need to know that."

"You know?" You asked automatically, regretting when you did. Sans looked wounded.

"I'm not exactly sure how smart or _dumb_ you think monsters are, but you seriously need a checkup if you think I can't add two and two." He ran a hand over his skull. "Training at the park… coming home covered in flowers… that _fucking_ _bruise_ around your neck…" The last one was said through gritted teeth, though it looked more like Sans was hurt rather than angry.

Your eyes widened and you quickly got up, looking at yourself through the mirror. _Holy shit_. An ugly purple bruise dotted across your neck from where Flowey grabbed you last night, still mostly red on the edges. You stepped back, putting a hand to your throat.

"Can't you see that he's dangerous? I don't know why he is letting you come and go as you please, but it's exactly what he wants!" Sans' voice was shaking, emotions boiling under his bones. "He only knows how to lie and manipulate others, nothing good can come from it!"

"But… last night he was different, he told me about being Asriel." You tried reasoning, more to yourself than Sans at this point. You couldn't look away from your throat in the mirror, horrified.

" _Asriel is dead_." Sans grabbed your arms, turning you to face him. "Please… I… I can't lose you to him again…" His head was looking down, shaking. You felt something wet splash onto your feet. "All it would take is one moment… and I wouldn't know what… I don't think… I wouldn't…" He sniffed.

It was incredible how fragile Sans actually was, compared to the facade he always had up. He was so strong, so powerful, until Papyrus' or your life was on the line, and he was reduced to the small helpless skeleton that he was.

You didn't know what to think anymore. You were starting to trust the flower so much, but… You glanced towards your phone, feeling a chill run down your spine. You closed your eyes and pulled Sans into a hug, one hand on the back of his skull and the other wrapped around his waist. You made your decision.

"I'm sorry, Sans… I never meant for you to worry." You pressed your lips to the top of his head in a small kiss. "I won't see Flowey anymore. I love you."

His voice was soft. "And I love you."


	31. Bar Day

You and Sans hugged in your room for a while, letting the nerves from the talk dissipate. Heat threatened your face, pinpricks dotting the corners of your eyes, but you didn't want to let yourself cry. You hated crying. Sans, however, was focusing on getting his breathing back to normal.

The way he held onto you… you could feel his grip tighten ever so slightly. Either making sure you were real, or making some sort of mental promise, you didn't know. Soon enough the grip left your back and Sans separated from you, rubbing under his eye with the back of his hand. Blue was glowing from his cheeks slightly. He coughed.

"Heh. Well. Uh, glad that's out of the way. Do you feel like breakfast, or well… Lunch?" He asked.

"Not very hungry at the moment, but I could do with some tea." You said, vaguely wondering how in the world you weren't hungry yet. You will be soon enough, you figure.

"Right. I'll get the water warm." Sans turned and headed out of your bedroom. He closed the door behind him, and you took the chance to change into proper day clothes. You didn't know what you had planned today, but one thing was for sure. No training with Flowey.

You paused for a moment in the middle of pulling on your shirt, thinking about that. Flowey was… complicated. And hard to understand. You were starting to trust him; the training idea he had was actually working for you, enough that you felt safe even if it came down to a fight with him. At least, up until… You looked in the mirror, seeing the bruise on your neck. Some of the red close to the middle was turning to a deep purple already, and you could tell you would be stuck with the ugly bruise for a long time.

" _NO ONE GETS TO KILL YOU WITHOUT_ MY _PERMISSION_." Flowey's voice suddenly rang crystal clear, causing you to whip around in a panic for a second or two before realizing it had been a memory. You pulled your sleeves closer to your wrists, biting your lip. The way he'd said that… it still sent a chill down your spine. It sounded like he was possessive of you. Then again, you would be his only friend he'd had in quite some time, it would make sense for him to make that association.

You picked up your phone, seeing it was still on the page with the attacked bar. Clearly Flowey wasn't above killing others, even people that weren't attacking him personally. Out of the three images of the killed humans, only one of the faces looked familiar. The man that Sans threw around in the alleyway the day Papyrus was missing. That meant the others were either wounded… or had friends that were hurt and killed. Leader prick was going to be pissed, if he wasn't already planning something nasty.

You shook off the thought, figuring you needed to talk about it with Sans later. For now, you needed something warm.

Stepping out of the room and into a rather tasty smelling hallway, you made your way down to the kitchen, seeing Sans just finish pouring the tea for the two of you. "Here you go, Vertebae." He smiled, pushing a mug towards you. You smiled back, tucking your phone in your pocket before grabbing the warm tea. "Have a brownie, too. Papyrus decided to give a recipe a go since we were planning on seeing the kid later today." Sans jerked a thumb towards the oven, and you noticed a pan of brownies already cut and cooled. Your stomach promptly growled, so you nodded and took a small plate from the cupboard. Papyrus gasped from the living room.

"Oh look! Frisk is on TV!" He announced. You quickly grabbed your brownie and headed to the living room with Sans. Frisk was standing next to Toriel, facing a few news reporters. They were in front of the bar that was attacked; the green vines hanging visible behind them as they answered questions. Toriel looked like she was translating Frisk's sign language. One of the news ladies stepped forward, holding a mic out.

"Monster Ambassador Frisk, is it true that this is a hate crime? Who will take the blame for this?"

Frisk shook their head, looking rather distressed, and quickly signed something. Toriel translated. "Frisk says these are the actions of a single monster, and they do not believe that the monster community should suffer for the actions of one. They regret that lives have been lost today, but it is important to remember that justice will reach those responsible in a lawful manner." The various news reporters immediately jumped in, shooting rapid-fire questions over each other.

Sans pulled you back slightly, away from Papyrus. "What did you and that weed talk about?" He asked in a whisper, keeping his eyes to the TV. Your mind scrambled for a second.

"I told him about the reset, and how it was my fault." You saw Sans flinch slightly at that, but allowed you to continue. "He said I wasn't allowed to die without his permission." Sans froze.

"What?" He looked at you, eyes wide.

"I don't know. He said that no one can kill me without his permission, or something, and ran off. That's when I called you. When I woke up today I saw news on my phone that the bar was attacked last night." He kept staring at you for a moment, then ran a hand over his skull.

"Get ready Paps, we're heading to Grillby's." Sans said, quickly rushing to your room.

"What? What about the brownies?" Papyrus asked, seeming confused.

"Bring those too. We're not coming back tonight." Sans' voice was muffled, but he reappeared again with his classic blue jacket, already dialing someone on his flip phone. He looked at you as he brought the phone to the side of his face. "Get your jacket."

.

Mettaton ended up picking the three of you up in his sweet pink car and driving you to another side of town. A smallish looking bar sat between two massive buildings, simply marked "Grillby's II" with neon lights. Alphys and Undyne stood outside talking to each other when you pulled up, seeming a bit on edge.

"Sans, what's going on?" Alphys asked as you and Sans got out of the car.

"I… we need help." Sans said, motioning to the bar. "Let's talk inside." They nodded and everyone walked in. You weren't sure what you were expecting, but this was _definitely_ not it.

A table's worth of dog monsters were playing poker in the middle of the room, and various monsters were scattered about. There were only two humans in the entire bar, not including yourself. Though one of them you recognized. She was sitting in a booth in the furthest corner, away from everyone else, except for the white furry monster she was sitting across from. You scrambled to remember where you saw the girl with the short hair and killer makeup before… and remembered that she was with Asgore on the beach. She looked different now, wearing large black glasses and small black choker with a heart and chains on it. You tilted your head a bit, trying to see past the booth wall to see who she was sitting with. Asgore. Huh. He looked rather distressed, holding a large drink in one of his paws.

"Over here." Sans said, snapping you out of your rather rude staring. You followed him to a booth as well, sitting next to him as Alphys and Undyne took the other side. Papyrus and Mettaton took seats at the bar, quickly starting a conversation with the bartender that was... on fire. Panic was your first reaction, but no one seemed to be paying it any mind. This was a monster-friendly bar, so the guy on fire-made of fire?-must have been a monster, too.

"What's the deal, Sans?" Undyne asked, wanting to get to the point of why they were called today. It seemed like a majority of the monsters in the bar were rather nervous, and you could catch a few of them glancing up at the small TV in the corner of the room every so often. Undyne was not an exception.

"Well… Human Pride is a bit of a problem around Vertebae's place, you see…" Sans started, making sure to lock eyes with Alphys in the 'if you know what I mean' way, "and the attack may or may not seriously anger a lot of them." It was bluntly obvious he was keeping all of the important details hidden, but you couldn't blame him. You _were_ in a rather public place. He looked like he was going to continue, but you suddenly heard crackling to your left. You turned, and jumped when you saw the burning bartender looking down at you.

"May I get your order?" A masculine-sounding voice asked, and the monster crossed his arms. His voice didn't sound very… solid. It sounded more like cracks and pops from a fire that happened to form words you could understand. He was looking at everyone with what you assume was curiosity, before noticing Sans. "Sans. Long time no see. When you paid your tab, I wasn't aware it meant you had no reason to come back."

"Sorry Grillby, I've been rather busy, heheh." Sans said, scratching the back of his head. "You know what I'll have. Vertebae, want a burger? Grillby makes the best burgers." He asked you, causing you to startle. You nodded, though you were rather unsure how hungry you actually were. You found it hard to find your voice around Grillby… It was rather unnerving how he was just living _fire_. He nodded, accepting the order.

"Drinks?" He asked.

Sans shook his head, and it looked like you had to actually speak up. "Uh… water?" You asked, not feeling like you needed much.

"I don't touch the stuff." Oh. Right. Of course.

"I'm… I'm good."

Alphys and Undyne ordered some fries and Grillby left your table, giving you guys privacy again.

"So, back to what I was saying. HP is a problem, and a dangerous monster is after Vertebae as well." Sans said quickly and quietly, acting completely different now that the bartender left.

"Whoa whoa whoa, where did this dangerous monster come from?" Undyne asked, confused.

"Remember the whole event that happened with their Soul?" Sans asked, motioning to your chest. Undyne paused, realizing, before nodding. "Yeah. That monster. So, uh, let's figure out something to do about it, yeah?"

"Well, sounds like all you gotta do is run for a bit." Undyne said casually, leaning back against the booth seat. "Do what the kid did to me, run back to Hotland. Ain't nobody want to go there."

"Well…" Alphys said with a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of her head.

"Other than you, dork!" Undyne threw an arm around Alphys, pulling her close. Alphys laughed, cheeks somehow slightly flushed.

"Wait… you think the best plan is to go _back to the Underground_?" Sans asked, looking completely against the thought.

"Well, you would have the upper hand on familiar grounds." Alphys pointed out. "Besides, it costs humans a _lot_ of money to get to the underground unless they are in a relationship with monsters, so there is much less of a chance that anyone in HP would even make it down there."

You liked the idea of being able to see the underground, but you had responsibilities that prevented you from leaving your apartment unoccupied. "What about Samus? Someone needs to take care of her, I doubt she'd like the underground much…"

"We can take care of her! No problem! Humans already call us reptiles all the time, taking care of an actual one shouldn't be a challenge at all!" Undyne smiled at you. That would work, you suppose…

"If you're running from people though… I wouldn't bring Papyrus." Alphys started. Sans jumped at that, ready to interject. "Traveling in groups is bound to attract attention, and Papyrus isn't exactly the 'under the radar' type. Besides, Papyrus loves the sky. You don't want to take that away from him, right?" She quickly finished, catching Sans off guard.

"No… you're right. Both of you. I would prefer to not leave the sky myself, but we really can't risk staying at the apartment for a while." He nodded, sitting back in the chair.

"So…" You looked between everyone. "We're taking a trip to the Underground, just us?" You asked, making sure. Sans nodded. All things considered, you were glad you would be able to finally see the Underground yourself.

"Say hello to my daughter for me if you see her." Grillby walked up beside your table, passing out plates and a couple of ketchup bottles.

"Sure thing, Grillbz." Sans forced a smile, popping the lid off of a ketchup bottle and taking a swig.

"I really wish you would drink an actual beverage like every other monster here." Grillby sighed, pinching where you would assume the bridge of his nose to be. That's where his glasses rested, in any case.

.

"So remember, switch her water every other day, and she only needs one rat every other week. She likes warmth, but don't let her cook herself either!" You reminded Alphys and Undyne again, who both rolled their eyes.

"Yeah yeah, we get it!" Undyne crossed her arms. "You only needed to say it five times."

"We'll be picking her up tomorrow morning, and we'll be looking up proper care videos, don't worry. If worse comes to worse, we should be able to call you. The core tends to have serious interference though…" Alphys added.

"It'll be okay." Sans said, walking from the bar and looking at you with his hands in his pockets. "We won't be gone for too long… maybe a week or so until everything cools down up here. We should have more of a game plan by then."

"Oh, brother! I do hate separating like this! Why don't you two just live at Alphys and Undyne's with me?" Papyrus suddenly picked up Sans, holding back tears.

"I already told you, bro. It would be way too crowded. Besides, HP would likely find us if we ever went outside, and bring even more trouble to the lot of you." He admitted sadly. You didn't like seeing them parted, either, and you couldn't help but feel guilty. You were the target, after all.

"Don't let that stop you from coming back early though, okay?" Alphys added, handing him a small travel bag when Papyrus finally put him down. "If anything happens down there, just come back, and we'll take care of you." She gave a nervous smile to the both of you.

"Right. Thank you, again. For everything." Sans said, nodding. "See you guys soon." The others nodded, flooding into Mettaton's car and taking off with the sound of a couple monsters shouting 'take care, human.' Sans watched the car as it left, taking a couple breaths.

"So… How are we getting to the Underground? Are you going to teleport us?" You asked, wondering what comes next. It was already dark out, and you didn't have any sort of suitcase with you currently. Sans looked up at you, as if remembering that the two of you were supposed to be doing something.

"Can't go that far." He grabbed your hand, suddenly pulling the world around you until your room appeared. You stumbled into Sans' arms, quickly breathing and trying to get the room to stop spinning. Your gut tightened for a moment, but thankfully the urge to throw up vanished as quickly as it appeared. "Pack your things, I'll grab the food." He said plainly, slowly letting you stand on your own. You nodded, stabilizing, and he quickly left to the kitchen.

He felt so… reserved. If he was like this just thinking about going back to the underground, what was he going to be like when you guys actually got there? You worried for a moment before shaking your head. Right, you need to pack. You grabbed your suitcase from your closet and started filling it with your favorite clothes, being sure to pack long sleeved clothing as well. Your winter jacket sat buried under a pile of clothing, but you made sure to pack it as well. Sans said his home was in Snowdin, so obviously there was going to be snow.

"Done?" Sans' voice asked from your door, startling you for a moment. You look over to see him wearing a large backpack and standing beside a suitcase of his own. How did he get done so quickly?

"Almost." You answered, looking around your room for last things to bring with. You threw in a book, along with your laptop, 3DS, and notebook. "Is there anything in particular I need to bring?" You asked, uncertain. You were treating this like a vacation more than anything else.

"Just a jacket. If you need anything, I'm sure some of the shops are still open down there." He said with a shake of his head. You nodded, zipping up your suitcase and heading over to Samus to give her a final petting.

"Sorry hun, my friends will be taking care of you for a while, okay?" You asked the snake. She looked at you, licking the air before quickly climbing up your arm. "H-hey!" You caught her, surprised she was going so fast. She used your hand as leverage, extending her neck as much as possible and looking at Sans. "Oh, I suppose she wants to say bye to you." You laugh a little.

Sans raised an eyebrow, walking over and using the tip of his finger to scratch the top of Samus' head. She tried her best to wrap around the finger, but Sans dropped his hand before she had a good grip. "Sorry little beast. I'll see you later." He smiled to the snake, before turning around and picking up your suitcase. "Come on."

You nodded, putting Samus back into her tank and closing the lid, kissing your hand and patting her tank quickly before leaving the room with Sans. He stood close to the door, watching as you did one final look around the living room. You felt like you were forgetting something… You looked at the counter, and grabbed the lighter from it. Good enough.

"Okay, I'm ready." You nodded to Sans. He nodded as well, handing you a suitcase. He dug out a hat from one of the suitcases, fitting it over your head quietly. He didn't give you any answers to why he did, but instead linked arms with you. You inhaled, this time was somewhat prepared for the teleport.

Just in time to see a trashcan beside a bus stop.

You ran for the trashcan, making good use of the burger Grillby made you. You groaned, spitting the gross out of your mouth. What a waste… Sans patted your back gently.

"Sorry for making you go through so many teleports… Just can't risk getting seen by anyone." He said, you nodded. You took a moment to calm your breathing, before turning around and picking your bag back up. You looked at Sans, curious to why you were at a bus stop. "Like I said, I can't teleport us all the way there. Way too far for me." He sat on the bench, looking at the time on his phone. "I brought us as far as I could comfortably, but we'll take the bus close enough for me to drop us in."

You nodded, sitting next to him and waiting for the bus.

.

The two of you waited for what felt like almost an hour before a bus showed up, and the driver said it was the last one that night heading to the next town over. Sans nodded, paying for the two of you, and you climbed on with your bags. Not many people were on the bus, just two monsters and five humans, some of them asleep. You couldn't help but notice the humans that were awake were eyeing the monsters like they were dangerous threats, while the monsters appeared to be trying their best to look uninterested in conversations by reading books and wearing headphones at the same time. Sans picked a back seat for the two of you, making one older lady scoff and change seats to be closer to another human. The entire setting left a rather bad taste in your mouth… or was that still the vomit? You dug out a piece of gum from your bag, which you really should have done earlier.

"Go ahead and get relaxed, we have a long ride ahead." Sans whispered to you, leaning back in his seat and pulling up his hood. You nodded, laying your head against his shoulder and slipping your arm through his before you closed your eyes. The bus was noisy, but only from the rattling metal and bumps of the road. No radio was playing, and no one was talking. You could almost fall asleep to the white noise.

At least, until you heard familiar whispers.

Your eyes opened and saw the black goopy monster looking at you with a tilted head. You blinked, watching him for a moment. He tilted his head to the other way, smile growing bigger. "WaaN HerBluB shhhhom haan." His broken voice whispered, his body seeming to bubble with each sound he made. His head bounced as he… laughed? Each laugh sounded more like sharp inhales that cut each one off. He was smiling at you, and you didn't know what to think about that.

You heard Sans give a disgruntled sigh, and you turned to look at him. He was wearing an uncomfortable expression with closed eyes, until the whispers suddenly vanished, and he relaxed again. You felt confused as your nerves spiked up again, and you looked back to where Gaster was a moment ago, only to find some man looking at you with a disgusted face and holding his phone like he was taking a picture of you and Sans.

You gave the 'the fuck is your problem?!" face, making him jump and quickly put his phone down, looking in another direction. _Damn right,_ you huff.

.

"This is our stop." Sans' voice woke you up, his hand rubbing your arm lightly. You sit up and look around, noticing that the bus was still moving.

"Wha?" You ask, not remembering falling asleep in the first place.

"Forgive me for this." He grabbed the bags with one hand, using the other to grab around your waist. You felt like you were being pushed through a small straw filled with broken glass as the world got far too tight around you, throwing you and Sans into some grass. You immediately get to your hands and knees to dry heave, pain feeling like it was dragging nails across your skin. "Ughhh…. I hate teleporting when moving." Sans groaned beside you, picking himself up from the ground. "Just one more jump, okay?" You heard him ask.

Your stomach tightened, headache building just at the thought. You nodded anyway, taking a couple breaths. Sans unzipped the suitcase and pulled out your winter jacket. He waited until you stood up on your own, and handed it to you.

"The temperature is a big difference, don't let it shock you, okay?" You nodded, carefully slipping on the jacket. Ooph… it was way too hot out to be wearing this thing. Sans zipped up the suitcases, handing you one and holding one himself. "Ready?"

You nodded. His hand grabbed your hip again, and with one final unsympathetic teleport, everything was white and cold.

"Welcome to Snowdin."


	32. Change Day

Your lungs filled with chilly air, disorienting your normal breathing pattern. You coughed, staggering.

"You okay?" Sans looked at you as you fell to a knee, hand to your chest. You nodded, forcing down another breath of the cold air. Sweat trickled at your forehead, and it took all of your effort to not let your vision go blurry. Your entire head was scrambling and screaming out at how different everything was, but you forced the panic down. Don't go into shock. That would be a very bad thing to do right now. You focused on the wetness and cold of the snow that was seeping in through your pants, trying to keep your breathing regular.

"I'm… I'm good." You said after giving yourself a moment, taking an extra large breath before standing up again. Sans looked uncertain, and you could see him waiting for you to say something more before relaxing. "So… This is the Underground?" You weakly asked, looking around. It… wasn't what you were expecting. Heavy snow covered everything that you could see, from the tall pine trees to the large wooden building ahead. Small, frozen-looking blue flowers were poking out from all the white. A single snowflake landed on your nose, startling you. You looked up, and were shocked when you saw the dark cave ceiling far above you, snow falling seemingly without clouds or any real source. How in the world…

"This is Snowdin, a small part of the Underground." Sans said, drawing your attention. "Never thought I'd be coming back here…" He muttered under his breath, looking rather uncomfortable. He inhaled, quickly brushing the expression off and wearing his usual grin again. "Come on, you are probably thirsty." He turned to you, and you suddenly realized you were very, _very_ thirsty. You nodded.

"Right, then let's go in to Grillby's—or… Fuku's… apparently." Sans' voice grew confused when he looked at the building ahead of you. From the lights outside you could see a rather pretty banner declaring "~Fuku's~" in a fat green cursive font, which was loosely draped over a large "GRILLBY'S" sign on the building. There were small green flames in bottles full of bubbles painted on the banner, giving an overall "cute" look to whatever kind of drink it was advertising. Sans looked horrified.

"What…" He walked to the building, and you followed. A sweet smell hit you like a wall when you walked in, immediately letting you know that this was nothing like the Grillby's bar from town.

"Oh! Hello there!" Another flaming bartender was standing behind a bar, but this time female, and was made up of bright green flames. She was wearing some sort of sailor outfit, the kind you would see in Alphys' anime. "Didn't expect to see anyone so late! I was just about to close up." She continued wiping the counter down with a rag, but allowed you to look around the room anyway. Two "Dance Dance Revolution" machines stood next to each other towards the other side of the room, beside them was a few more arcade games. The floor was littered with round tall tables, and stools that could spin around. There were still some booths that suggested that this place used to be a bar, but it was clear that it was no longer one now.

"So… You've really done a number to this place." Sans stated, looking around as well. He looked up at the glowing board that stood behind the bar, showing the prices of various drinks and foods. "Bubble tea?" He asked, looking quite conflicted.

"Sure thing! I can make you whatever you want, Mr…. wait… Sans?" She asked, finally looking up from her cleaning and realizing who walked into her establishment.

"Hey kid, Grillbz asked me to say hello to you during my visit. I knew you took over his old bar, but I thought it was still a bar…" He laughed nervously.

"It _was_ when I took it over. Dad said he needed to follow his customers up and out, but I figured I don't mind the underground all that much." She had a slight pink tint to her cheeks. "Besides, I never seen the outside before, so I don't think I'm missing out too much. Dad says there just isn't any cave above you, but I feel like that's just… too much, you know? Like, what happens if you suddenly start falling up? Nothing will be there to stop you!" She brought her hands to her face, thinking about it. You held back a laugh. Sans didn't.

"Heheh, well, your old man is doing great up there, just to let you know. Hasn't fallen into the sky yet." Sans shrugged. "Anyway, we'll let you close up. Forgot how late it was-"

"Oh, it's no problem! I can still make you something real quick if you want!" She tossed the rag to the side of the bar, looking excited for an order. Your thirst spoke for you.

"I'll have the raspberry?" You half-asked, looking at the menu. She had nearly every kind of fruit on there, along with other things you didn't recognize, but you had no idea what to try. Best be safe and get the universal good flavor. She nodded and looked at Sans, waiting for his request.

"Any ketchup flavored ones?" He asked. The flaming girl laughed loudly, bringing a hand up to stop herself.

"Er… Not any on the menu, but I can try my best to make one. Bubbles in both of them?" She asked, quickly recovering from the outburst. The two of you nodded, and you weren't entirely sure what to expect. "Got it, I'll be right back." She smiled and walked through the back door, leaving you and Sans in the room.

Your eyes drifted to the Dance Dance Revolution machine, having sudden urges to play the game. It had been quite a while since you've played one, and you enjoyed feeling accomplished by stomping to a beat. Of course you wouldn't play it right now, you were still a bit disoriented from all of the teleports.

"Don't worry, we'll have time to play later." Sans said, nudging you with an elbow. You nodded, and turned your attention back to the short skeleton.

"So… This used to be Grillby's?" You asked. Sans nodded.

"Yep. Used to come here every day, had one hell of a tab to pay off once the underground was finally free." He chuckled. You remembered Grillby saying something about his tab, and how they'd treated it like an inside joke.

The two of you waited with your suitcases, some of the snow dripping onto the hardwood floor. Whoops. Though she must be used to that sort of thing by now.

"And here we are!" Fuku announced quicker than you expected, walking out from the back door. She held two cups filled with red water, black balls drifting around on the bottom of them. "One raspberry," she placed one down on the counter, "and one ketchup." She put down the other. You could tell she was smiling by her eyes. "That'll be eighty-six Gold please."

You sputter. "Eighty—what?!" You looked at Sans, wondering how on earth was he going to afford something like this. He laughed at your reaction.

"Forgot to tell you about the money difference down here I guess." He pulled out nine golden coins, slightly larger but much flatter than quarters, and dropped them onto the counter. Fuku nodded, opening her register and placing four smaller gold coins on the counter for change. "Come on, let's let her close up. We'll talk to you later, Fuku!" He smiled, grabbing his change and handing you one of the drinks.

"Sure thing Mr. Sans! Let me know how it is!" She picked up her rag and started cleaning again as Sans led you outside.

Your mind was still trying to figure out how much 'gold' was exchanged for the small beverages. "Eighty gold for some drinks?" You asked Sans, taking the thick straw he offered to you and stabbing it through the vacuum sealed top.

"Yep. About eight human dollars, more or less." He shrugged. "The Underground is a bit all over the place with our money. No laws against raising the price of things just because you feel like it. I used to have a hotdog stand and charge ten gold each, but then the Kid showed up so I made it thirty, and no one noticed. I even sold a hotdog to some punk for ninety just because he looked like he had money. Didn't even blink an eye." He chuckled to himself, stabbing the straw into his drink and taking a sip. "Ugh…" He made a face.

"What's wrong?" You asked, though you probably could guess. Ketchup as a mixed drink didn't sound very appealing. You took a sip of your own drink as Sans looked like he was about to answer, and you coughed and spat it out to the side, trying to keep yourself from gagging.

"Looks like we switched our drinks." Sans chuckled, grabbing your drink and replacing it with the one he had. You made your tongue fold over itself, trying to rub the sweet watery tomato taste out of your mouth. Sans drank from it, seeming much happier. "There, that's better." He smiled, somehow enjoying the repulsive drink.

You carefully took a sip of your new drink, and were pleasantly surprised when it tasted good. _Really_ good, actually. You sucked up one of the chewy balls from the bottom of your cup, squishing it with your tongue before crushing it with your teeth. Fun.

"So now where to? Your home?" You asked, looking around and seeing various buildings close by, but none that drew your attention.

"Yep, just further this way." He started walking in a direction, making his way through the deep snow. "We're in luck. Most monsters that left the Underground ended up putting their old houses up for rent, me included, but fortunately no one is renting our house currently, so we don't have to go looking for someplace else to stay." Sans walked up to a couple of mailboxes, and opened up one to find a stack of mail nearly spilling out. He ignored the mail, reached past it, and pulled out a pair of keys. "There we go."

Sans led you to the front door, and let you in. It was still cold in the house, and all of the lights were off. Sans flipped a switch, and nothing responded. "Hm. Give me a moment." He said, tossing you the keys. You quickly flailed to catch them, nearly missing, and looked up to see Sans missing from where he was standing. You stood in the dark room a few seconds, and a loud "CLICK" echoed through the house, an electronic humming gently starting up as the lights flickered on. It looked like you were standing in the living room, though it seemed mostly empty. A table to the side, a couch, a TV stand (which was lacking a TV), and a coffee table. The kitchen was ahead of you, and some stairs were to the left side of the room leading up to two other doors.

"And voilà. Power is back." Sans appeared beside you, sipping on his drink. "We can go exploring tomorrow, but for now, how about we get ready for bed?" He asked, and you nodded. The nap on the bus was refreshing, but you could use some real sleep, especially with all of the teleporting that happened.

You bounced your suitcase against the mat by the door to knock off the snow, and brought it further into the living room. "What room?" You asked, looking up at the balcony.

"Second one. Left one was Bro's, but it's mostly empty now besides a table. My room still has everything in it." He answered, brushing off the snow from his jacket and suitcase. "Go ahead and unpack up there, I'll put the food away." He smiled at you, and you headed upstairs.

 _What a mess._

You had pushed open the door to find a small disaster area, and you weren't sure what you were expecting. A bare mattress sat on the ground in the far corner, a lumpy pillow on the ground beside it, and the sheets tangled in a big ball thrown on the bed. Socks and random papers were scattered around the room, and a treadmill was obviously used as a clothes rack in the middle. But never mind that, what the hell was going on in the right corner beside the door!? You stared at the… self-sustaining tornado made of trash. What the ever loving-

You shook your head and made your way to the back of the room, opening one the drawers. Thankfully they were empty, so you started unpacking your suitcase into them, organizing carefully.

"Hmm?" You questioned to yourself, picking up a key you found in the back of the drawer. It looked like it was for a basic padlock, but you didn't know for what. You shrugged, about to put it back when a familiar static feeling started trailing up your spine.

You looked over your shoulder to find Gaster rather close to you, reaching a hand out to the key. You slowly stand up and turn to face him, watching him carefully. "Gaster." You said plainly. He seemed startled that you noticed him, almost bubbling from the shock before returning to simple… partially transparent blob monster.

"What do you want?" You asked, meaning for it to be a kind question but it was hard to show any sort of emotion other than 'neutral' when he was around. He tilted his head with a growing smile, hollow hands making signs at you as whispers around you grew more intense. You really wish you knew sign language now.

Seeing that he wasn't getting any reactions out of you from his signs, his broken smile opened. "PlarrB HeeP WeeSch mal Heaal." His voice skipped and warped, his body seeming to flicker with the words. Almost like the more he spoke, the more opaque his darkness was. You tried to figure out what he was saying, but one of the whispers distracted you.

 _Real_.

It was the only one of the whispers you could understand, and it kept repeating it over and over. "You want to be real?" You asked carefully. Immediately Gaster was towering over you with an unnatural smile, looking down at you almost hungrily. His empty eye sockets were drawing you in, and you had no choice but to stare into the nothingness. You suddenly felt very _heavy_ and your chest too _tight_ , but you couldn't bring yourself to look away from his empty eyes.

Help _help_ helphelpppppp _me_ eeee _eeeeeeeee_.

The whispers chanted in your head, growing into yells yet staying at the same volume. Gaster's mouth opened as if to speak again, but instead he startled and recoiled into himself, no longer towering over you.

"So I've been thinking, Vertebae, and I figured out a game plan..." Sans' voice said from outside the room, startling you and managing to drive some of the numbness from your body. You look over to Gaster to see him shrinking down into your shadow, quickly fading away. Before he did, one of his hands appeared around yours that was holding the key. You couldn't feel it, but you saw it tighten slightly around it. His other hand pointed downwards, before bringing the finger to his mouth in a "shh" motion, before he vanished.

Aw _hell_ no. You ain't gonna let that be another mistake you make. Fuck Destiny or Fate or whoever kept trying to get you to do all these stupid things. You weren't going to be some gullible protagonist for their story anymore.

"SANS!" You ran out of the room, colliding with the short skeleton. You quickly hug him tightly, enjoying being able to feel things, and quickly shoved the key to his chest.

"Wha-?"

"I found this key in your drawer then Gaster showed up and started whispering 'real' and 'help me' and being all spooky as usual and I kinda blacked out a little bit in the middle but now he's wanting me to go downstairs with the key-and-keep-quiet-or-something—" You spoke quickly, the words coming in a rush, and you paused only to inhale, continuing. "And yeah." You ended lamely.

Sans blinked, trying to register everything you rushed together. "Uh… what?" He asked. You inhaled.

"Key. Gaster. Creepy as hell. Downstairs." You summarized, pushing the key towards him again.

"Oh." He blinked again, still rather startled. "He must be trying to get you to the lab out back." He looked at the key, clearly debating whether or not to just deal with the encounter tomorrow. He thought a moment longer before sighing. "Fine, lets check it out." He put the key in his pocket and turned to walk down the stairs.

You were shocked at how casual he was being with everything, but followed him anyway. The two of you left the house and walked around back, and Sans started to mess with a door you would have missed had you'd been on your own.

"You said you understood Gaster?" He asked, looking at you over his shoulder as he messed with the padlock.

"No, he was still speaking gibberish. But I understood one of the whispers. He reacted when I asked if he wanted to be real, so I assume that's what he was talking about." You shrugged. Sans silently turned his attention back to the door, opening it up and flipping the light on.

It was a small room with purple tiled flooring, completely empty except for something big covered with a sheet in the back corner of the room. The two of you walked in, and you felt a shiver travel up your spine. It was chilly, yeah, but there was something else about this room that had your hair standing on end.

Sans walked over to the sheet, grabbing it and pulling. You expected it to slide off gracefully, but instead part of it snagged on something, and he spent a few seconds waving the sheet and tugging, before finally it unhooked itself and settled onto the ground.

It looked even bigger without the sheet on it, but what it was… you had no idea. "What… what is that?" You asked, looking at it closer. It looked like a massive glass room with all sorts of tubes and pipes connecting to it, random electronic things to the side of it. You walked up to the glass, noticing that in the front was a large open door. Sans walked back to a table that was built into the wall and started flipping through blueprints.

"An adapted model of a machine Gaster made. It originally was designed to extract determination from Souls, but it didn't work out very well. It turned out it was much easier to replicate Determination than it was to extract it, but either way monsters couldn't handle it." Sans started, pushing some of the papers to the side. "So it got switched up from one task to another, Gaster seemed obsessed with it. Every attempt ended in failure, but he was so _close_ to something…" He put the papers down with a sigh, walking over to the machine next to you.

"What is it supposed to do now?" You asked, looking at all of the little circuits traveling across a panel. For some reason they drew your attention.

"Now?" Sans asked, half answering with a shrug. "I tried using it to figure out a way to stop the resets, but it didn't work, so the programs have been cleared from its last attempts. It's empty, and without a purpose." He gave it a slight half-hearted tap with his foot.

"Oh." You felt your shoulders droop. It seemed like a mighty big piece of machinery to just be… empty. You ran one of you fingers along a rather pretty looking circuit, following it towards the middle square. "Why do you think Gaster—ACK!" You pulled back your hand from the machine, finger tingling from the shock. You put it in your mouth, startled when you tasted some iron.

"You okay-?" Sans' question was cut off as the machine suddenly buzzed, the glass door slamming shut. The two of you backed away from the machine reflexively. "The hell?!" Sans quickly rushed to the screen beside it, tapping some of the buttons. "It shouldn't be on, it should even be _able_ to turn on!" The noise grew louder, and the lights along the base of the glass room glowed.

The whirring sound was almost hurting your ears, and you covered them with your hands before suddenly a loud pop was heard and everything but the overhead lights shut off. The machine grew silent and black smoke started filling the inside of the glass room rather unceremoniously. Whatever it was doing… it looked like it crashed.

"…Huh." Sans stopped his button pressing, examining the machine. "That was… weird." You nodded in agreement, but numbness began to travel through your body. A hand rested on your shoulder. You looked up to see the broken face of Gaster looking at the machine with a smile.

His grip tightened.


	33. REDACTED Day

"My… now this is _interesting_."

You felt your heart stop when Gaster turned his eyes to you and spoke. His voice sounded exactly like how he looked; heavy, dark, and flowing. The kind of voice you would hear from a TV show and immediately think 'that has to be the mastermind villain of the series' despite anything that the show presents to the contrary.

You wanted to back up and get away from him, but his piercing gaze immobilized you. His eyes imitated Sans' by being pin lights in darkness, but they were much sharper, and had darkness in the middle of them. Small white halos that trapped you in place as your mind screamed for you to _run_.

" _Gaster_." Sans' low voice uttered, disbelief hanging heavily from it. He couldn't move as well, far as you could tell. You had no idea what was going through his mind; Gaster was after all, his 'dead' brother.

"Sans. So good to be noticed, _for once_." Gaster broke his gaze from you to turn towards Sans, suddenly allowing you to breathe again. You shifted your weight to step back, but Gaster's holed hand tightened ever so slightly around your shoulder, freezing you in place.

"Gaster… how...?"

"Science, _brother_. Science finds a way." Gaster smiled and looked down at you, sending more numbing shivers down your spine. "That… and some Determination doesn't hurt." He grabbed your wrist and brought it up between the two of you, twisting your hand to show the drop of blood on the tip of your finger. His sharp eyes hungrily stared at the redness for a moment, and he tilted his head ever so slightly-

You were suddenly pulled back out of his grip, and across the room to Sans' side. His arm was protectively outstretched, a small barrier between you and the tall… monster. Gaster no longer looked like he was made out of goop. Instead, he looked like a rather lanky, well-dressed, broken-faced person. He looked as if he was wearing a fancy suit of some sort, but the material was so dark you couldn't distinguish shadows or light sources, and almost like it was simply not there. His shadow was far too dark, and trailed much further than yours or Sans'.

"Don't be like that, _brother_." Gaster smiled and was suddenly right in front of you. You gasped and recoiled too slowly, and one of his hands found its way around your neck. He didn't have a tight grip, but it was a grip nonetheless, and tilted your head up at him. "I've only observed from afar for so long. I am merely curious as to what you see in such a creat̴̨̛̥̼̫̅̈́͘ü̴̢̟̘̣͂̇͘r̶̢̤͕̗͌́͋̕ë̵̯̟̱̘́̂̕͘." His voice suddenly clashed with itself, loosing the flowing quality of it. Whispers quietly started up around you.

" _I'm warning you._ " Sans' teeth ground together and you saw blue flare from beside you, but the fact Sans wasn't doing anything yet…

Gaster chuckled, the last few noises sounding as though they were cutting themselves short and skipping slightly. He tilted your head to the side, exposing your neck. "I don't intend to harm į̷̋t̴̨̉, worry not." His fingers trailed along the bruise, pressing just enough for you to feel hints of pain. "Fragile. Non-magical." He started listing off traits as he observed you. He brought a hand to your chest, and you felt your Soul lurch, but it didn't leave your body. "Weak Sou͙͙̅̉l̮͕̿̋." His voice popped again, but neither he or Sans paid it attention. "Scared." He looked again at your hand, glancing along your nails and up your arm, across your body. "Weaponless. W̡̘̎́eak. Average looks." You felt anger suddenly spike in you.

"Well you aren't exactly a pleasure to look at yourself." You glared at him, feeling much less afraid of him for the duration of the outburst. His eyes flared back to yours and his hand froze along your neck, quickly putting fear back where it belonged.

"And _mouthy_." His slight smile turned into a displeased frown. "I much preferred the others y͍̙͋͊ǫ̛͕̀ú͎̱̅ had. They at least had horns or flames to take care of themselves. At any rate their natural defense system was more than 'die and hope to _ć̴̖̰͐ö̵͖͈́̃m̴͓̟̊̃e̷̱̰̐̚ b̵̡̤̾̄à̶̼̼͊c̶̠̣̋̉k̷͚̦̂̽_.'" His voice was breaking up more frequently now. You noticed with every voice clash he had, the edges of his body flickered, as if it was made of blocks and for a fraction of a second they forgot where they were supposed to be.

"Oh don't give me that look, b̸̨͙̍͠r̴͔̫̀͆o̶̱͚͑͐t̵̢̗͗͗h̷̙̫͋̚è̷͇̟͘r̶͉͇̎̂." Gaster looked to Sans with a sigh. Sans was shaking and breathing hard, blue eye glowing dangerously. "Just because I do not understand does not mean I am not supportive. I did help the two of you out multiple times, after all. Having someṭ̸͙͐̐ḫ̴͓̅̇ī̸̻̜̈n̶̤̫̍̈́g̸͚̯̊͌ so useless around you has improved you- A̷͙̭̬̻̐͋̅̚Ç̸͚̫̬̉̀̕͝K̶̦̤̤͇̓̈͛́!̴̩̝͔̳̑̇̉̂" You took the opportunity of him looking away to quickly pull back your head, and bite his hand as hard as you could. His body flickered and warped, and you tasted something dry spill into your mouth. You quickly let go and ducked under his arm, running towards the exit.

You felt your jacket get pulled back by the hood, immediately sending panic and memories of the alleyway flooding through your mind. No no no no _no no no_. You do not want to be there right now. You heard Gaster saying something, distorting and threatening, but you could only see the alleyway forming and flickering into your view. You needed to leave. _Get out. Run._

You screamed and fell forward, and snow crunched under your hands.

The cold startled you, partially shocking you out of your panic. You looked up, and saw you were outside of Fuku's. Your breathing was quick, turning into white puffs in the night air. It was dark around you, the snow only illuminated by the lights on the outside of the ex-bar, and a wave of nausea slowly hit you. You swallowed, trying to keep it down, and quickly turned around.

You were alone.

Sans must have teleported you out, you thought, and started shaking. You got to your knees and wrapped your arms around each other, noticing you no longer had your jacket. You heard Sans' panicked voice call your name to the right of you, far away. Your first instinct was to yell a response, but your voice got caught in your throat. You stood up and shivered, trying to shake off the cold, and stepped forward.

" _There you ả̵̱r̷͚͂e̸͕͠_." Gaster appeared in front of you, causing you to scream again and fall back into the snow. While Sans' teleports were dizzying to experience firsthand, Gaster's were… different. Even just to see it. Sans was there one moment, you blinked, and he was gone the next, or you blinked and he was there from somewhere else. When Gaster moved you could see it happen, and it was jarring, to say the least. No smoke. No hint of anticipation. He was just there.

He looked much scarier now; dripping, flickering, fading… it was like his body was struggling to keep up the new shape. It was hard to separate his black body from the darkness of the cave, but the falling snow helped hint at the outlines of his form. His eyes were bright and harsh, hints of orange taking over the small halos as they drew closer to you.

"You ư̶̠n̸͎̽g̵̬͊r̸̞̅a̶̭̽ť̶̩ȇ̷̟f̴̖̍ù̴͉l̸̢̃ _creature_!" He stepped heavily forward, his feet splashing onto the ground and contrasting the white snow underneath. "I _helped_ y̸̗̏o̶̝͛u̴͙̯͎̓. I altered _reality itself_ to affect ỷ̸͇o̴̻̍u̵̜̚r̴͇͘ world." His holed hands waved through the air and he stepped forward again, making you scramble back to try and put more distance between the two of you. "I am a benevolent f̸̙͆ȏ̷̡r̷̛̠c̶̹̑e̷͕̕ of _anti-reality_ , and you _insult_ m̵̨̹̭̎͂̌́ͅë̶̼̗̘̻́̔̀." He began to lose his lanky shape, slowly deforming, gaining weight and becoming hard to recognize as a body.

"GASTER." Sans shouted, appearing beside you and holding a protective arm over you. "This is enough! We don't want your help, and we don't owe you _anything_!" You could see the pure blue magic from his eye flickering and wrapping over his skull like fire.

That caused Gaster to pause, shocked. His expression darkened. "You will Ỉ̵͓͕̫̑̈́E̷̻͉̲̓̔͘M̵̲̲̘̑͌̈́ me late̴̲̫̱͛͛̄r̸̘͓͎͐͒̕." His voice suddenly sounded like its old self for a moment, making his eyes widen. "No! Å̸̢̳̲͐̊Ḡ̴̢̣̜̊̕ä̵̡̧͖́̕͝i̴̟̩̼͗̉́On H̷̯̼̲̓̈́̕o̷̤̣͚̅̅̃oN!" His hand reached to Sans, only to have it completely pass though him. Gaster waved the hand through Sans desperately, as though he was willing it to become solid again. "I w̴͉̼̮̔̊̽a̴̱͍̖̾̿̈s̵͓͍̥̑́͝ ooAs ċ̶͍̻̞̅́l̸̟̬͖̒̌̐ȏ̵̗͉̺͐͝s̶̡͈͙̀̀̚é̸̪̺̙̓̉!" He shouted, whispers growing intensely around the two of you as his body collapsed on itself. His darkness gradually turned more transparent and he clawed at the snow, doing absolutely nothing to it. "No n̸̢̻̈̈̚ͅo̵̯̜͔͑̄͌ ̷̨̙̬̌̔̃n̸̝̭͇̔́̎ȍ̷͕̩̦͊́ ̵͖̣͇͛̐̈n̴̰̼͈̈́̐̅o̴̧̠̭͗͒̕n ẃ̵͍̝͙͑̒o̵̹̗̜͂̑͝ṅ̷̨̳̰̓̚ ̶̦̦̩̾́̏w̸̤̹͙̐͋͘o̵̙͈͔͛̊͘n̶͖̭͔͗̕͝ ̸̯͈̑͆̕͜ woN WON̷̡̳͉̣̿͊̀͊!" His screams transformed into unintelligible gibberish as he faded away, the whispers trailing after him.

You and Sans stayed still for a moment, horrified and letting the events catch up to you.

"Is… is he…?" You started asking, unsure of just about everything at the moment.

"He'll be back, but he'll most likely be stuck in the void again for a while." Sans stood up, still visually shaken. He turned to you, and saw you shaking as well, but for an entirely different reason. "Oh!" He quickly took off his jacket and draped it around your shoulders, before grabbing your waist and pulling you to stand up. "Shit, you must be freezing, let's get you inside." He grabbed your hand and led you to the house.

The inside was much warmer than it was when you first walked through the door, thankfully, yet you found yourself shivering uncontrollably. "I'll make some tea." Sans said quickly, rushing to the kitchen. You nodded and sat onto the couch, drawing your knees close to your chest and wrapping the jacket around yourself as closely as possible. Your teeth were still chattering.

Man… what a welcome to the Underground. Weird flavored drinks, secret labs, and another monster that was… after you? You really didn't know what Gaster's deal was. He became real, tangible, he insulted you, and then… You rested your hand on your throat. He said he helped you, but you weren't sure about that. Sans was right. You didn't owe him anything… but what did he _think_ you owed him? You didn't like how he was analyzing you either way. Very rude, and rather invasive without permission. You could see how he used to be a scientist. You violently shivered, getting frustrated at your own lack of heat. Not the _warmest_ of welcomes to a new home, to say the least. Ha.

You weren't going to judge the Underground yet, though, it hadn't even been a full twelve hours. Sans said the two of you could go exploring tomorrow… if that hasn't changed yet. "S-so what's-s the game p-plan?" You asked loudly through shivers, wanting to distract your mind and bring back whatever Sans was going to talk about before the Gaster incident.

"Game plan?" His voice asked from the kitchen. "Oh, right." There were a few clanging sounds for a moment, before Sans walked out with two steaming mugs. "Game plan for being in the Underground." He confirmed to himself, handing you a mug. You immediately hug the warm ceramic, nearly burning yourself on it but not really minding.

Sans sat down on the other side of the couch, getting comfortable before starting. "So, Flowey knows the Underground as well as I do, if not better, and he theoretically could come down here at any time." He started. "In reality, coming down here only solved the HP problem for us, but it did buy us time to figure out the Flowey issue." He sipped on his tea for a moment. "…I assume your training sessions were somewhat regular, right?"

You shrugged. "It was every day for a while, then the reset happened and things… got fuzzy. Irregular, but constant." You confirmed the best you could.

"So unless it was blatantly clear that you were running away, he would think you would be coming back eventually to visit him, yeah?" He continued the thought, and you nodded. It wasn't like you had much time to advertise that the two of you were leaving. "So I suppose we have a few safe days down here before we have to start looking out for the weed. I'll give us four days of free roaming and to have as much fun as we possibly can, before we start leaving the house as little as possible, and stick with teleporting when we do." He finished explaining, and it seemed like a very solid idea. "Good?" He waited for your input.

"Y-yeah, I think that'll work," you nodded. "How long do you think we'll have to stay down here again?" You could handle a few days of being grounded, but you weren't entirely sure for how long. You sipped on the tea, enjoying the warmth.

"We'll have to keep in contact with the others to see what's all going on above, but for now, we can just say four days of freedom, and we'll try to keep it around a week of house arrest. Heheh… I'm not sure how long I can stay here, though. The cave walls seem awfully small after you get used to the sky." He looked away, and you had a feeling you'd understand real soon.

.

The two of you talked on the couch a little while longer, long enough for you to finish your tea and warm up again, and eventually feel the tickling sensation of sleep creeping up on you. You looked up at the room, realizing you haven't finished unpacking, or even getting the room half decent.

"What's wrong?" Sans asked, looking up to the room as well. You sighed and leaned back onto the couch.

"The bed isn't made." You half joke, but you seriously didn't have the energy to attempt to make the bed tonight.

"Heh, that's right, that's a thing you're supposed to do with beds." He chuckled, throwing his legs onto the couch and patting his ribcage. "Well, we have a perfectly fine couch here. I think it'll do." You smiled and flopped onto him, enjoying how warm he was.

"Hmm… I think you're right." You smiled, giving him a kiss to the cheek before laying your head on his chest. You pause a moment, feeling some guilt weighing you down. "Hey…" You looked up at Sans, and he peeked an eye open at you. "Thank you… for everything. I know you probably hate the Underground, but for what it's worth, I'm glad I get to see it with you. You really didn't need to go all this way to try and protect me… but you did."

He smiled at you and gave a quick kiss to your forehead. "Of course I did. You're my Vertebae. I got your back." He winked at you with his stupid pun, and you chuckled before settling back onto his ribcage. Yeah, everything was going to be just fine.

.

You woke up alone in your room, head foggy. "What…" You asked, confused at how dark everything was. You looked out the window, but not even the street lamps were on. You grabbed your phone and turned on the flashlight, shining it around the room. Nothing else was on, maybe a blackout? Wait… Weren't you someplace else a second ago? That felt odd.

"Hello?" You called out. No answer, but it wasn't like you should be expecting one anyway. You left your room to go to the living room, finding it completely normal. It was… too normal. What was off about it? The nagging feeling hung in the back of your mind, but you pushed it aside and kept moving. You went back to the hall and opened the door to the spare room, the same feeling lingering as you glanced around the perfectly normal room. Something wasn't right.

You went back to the living room, running a hand through your hair. Calm down… Everything was okay. Everything was fine. What the hell was that feeling? Your bare feet paced along the clean wooden floors, and you paused. No… that wasn't right. You turned your flashlight to the ground, and saw the floor was free from any scratch marks. This… wasn't right. There was a reason this was scratched up, but you couldn't remember _why_. You groaned and went to your closet to grab your shoes. You needed to go for a walk and burn this anxiety off.

You leaned down to grab your shoes, pausing when you saw something white and round beside them. Using your phone, you lit up the rest of the closet, and promptly yelled, just barely keeping yourself stable enough to not fall on your ass. Dead rats littered the ground by your shoes, some of them pale as snow. You brought the light up, and saw spider webs completely filling your closet. You nearly _touched_ that! You scramble back and quickly run out of your apartment without your shoes. Hell no. Nope. No. Fuck that noise. You didn't need an apartment anyway.

You rush away from the door and stand on the sidewalk, running a hand through your hair again. Okay, something was definitely _not right_ here. You accepted that much, but why wouldn't that stupid feeling _leave you the hell alone?!_

"Howdy, friend! Where do you think you're going?" You turned and saw a golden flower with a face smiling up at you. No. No. _No_. You weren't dealing with this right now. You turned and started walking, hearing the flower talk more, but you ignored it. You didn't know what its deal was, but you weren't about to be a part of it.

You looked up to see a massive skeleton… dog? Some sort of monster sitting on the road, and looking at you with a single blue-orange flickering eye. You froze, watching it. _What the hell_ -it tilted its head at you, mouth opening slightly and you focused on its teeth. You arms started hurting, and you quickly turned away from it as well. It was wrong. Wrong wrong _wrong_ and no you were not dealing with it. You completely ignored and walked past the man with the gun as well. He could go fuck himself for all you care. Not now. Too wrong, too different. This wasn't _right_.

You stepped into the alleyway, and your feet suddenly couldn't be picked up. No no no no _no_ what _now_?! You struggled, pulling at your legs. You waved your flashlight around, trying to see what was stopping you from moving. It looked like the black tar was sticking to your feet, and gradually climbing up it.

"No. _No_. _No_." You bit onto your phone, and started using your hands to try and pull away the darkness. It clung to your hands, feeling cold as ice. Broken laughter made you stop your attempts. That was familiar. You looked up and saw a well dressed man with a broken mask laughing at you on the sidewalk.

"Eh eh eh eh… Is that it? Is this _really_ it?" His flowing voice made your memories spin, but you still couldn't place the stranger. He threw his head back and laughed harder, cutting himself off. "I thought there would be… _more_." His broken smile turned cocky, halo-like eyes boring into yours. You dropped your phone. Suddenly you _remembered_. _Gaster_.

"Ah! That's the look I was waiting for!" He clapped his hands, enjoying your reaction. "Worry not, dear, this will not happen often. I just wanted to see results, and oh, I _did_." He chuckled to himself as if it was a personal joke. "Now… do me a favor and-" He appeared inches in front of you, grabbing your neck and pushing you back into the pool of darkness, "-w̸͍͇͓͒̈́̔̌ͅȧ̶̞̭͙̼̀̂̂k̷̭̘̖̱̑̐̑̌e̵̝͔̺̦̎͛̑̚ ų̵̦̤͂͑̿̒͜p̴̜̯͖̟̆͒̉͆."

You jolt awake, for real this time, you think, in the living room of Sans' house. You were sweating, and breathing hard, but you couldn't move. It was dark, and warm, and _tight_. You looked up to see Sans still asleep, peacefully, hugging you tightly. Somehow in the middle of the night he managed to throw a fluffy blanket on the two of you, thus the reason you were actually warm. Your heart was racing, but the dream was already fading away. You didn't even remember what woke you up… You decided to let Sans sleep, and rested your head back onto his ribcage, trying to control your breathing.

Relax. It's over now. It wasn't real… whatever it was. You paused your breathing, and heard the gentle sound of the shifting sand coming from Sans' bones again. You let it lull you to relaxation, but you did not fall asleep again for quite some time.


	34. Explore Day

"Sorry, didn't catch that. Service must be really bad here." Sans' voice woke you up from dreamless sleep, your brain trying to process why you were on an unfamiliar couch. Oh right, you were in the underground. "Well report them and tell Mettaton to watch his back, then. This can't be _that_ unusual, he is a TV star after all…"

You stretched and felt your shoulders pop, relieving you of some strain. Grumbling, you rubbed your eyes and looked around the bright room. The sun must be out-wait… no, the underground didn't have a sun. Confused, you looked outside the window, and you were met with not-quite-sunlight; it wasn't quite as bright, and it didn't have any source you could find. A few small monsters were playing in the fresh snow.

You watched them for a while, laughing slightly when you saw the shorter one with massive mouse-like ears trip on their oversized scarf. "Oh, I'll talk to you guys later." Sans' voice said from the kitchen. You glanced over your shoulder to see the short skeleton tucking his phone into his pocket, and he rose a browbone.

"Some kids are playing, one fell." You motioned with your thumb to the window. He chuckled. "Who was that?" You glanced towards his phone.

"Alphys. She said Mettaton has been getting more hate mail than usual, and a few threats. Normally they wouldn't worry so much, but with everything that has been going on…" He trailed off, not needing to say it. "They can take care of it. Best if we don't worry, not much we can do while we're down here anyway." He scratched the back of his head, clearly a bit concerned despite his words.

"Right. So, what's the plan for today?" You asked, trying to help get his mind off of it.

"Show you the Underground. If you want, I can give you an imitation of the human tour of Frisk's survival, they do those kinds of tours a lot down here."

You could imagine; humans tended to make everything into a show if they could. You shook your head. "Give me the Sans tour. I want to know more about this place, but through your eyes." You smiled at him, and he seemed caught off guard before he smiled and nodded.

"Right. Well, make yourself some breakfast then, I need to make another call." He motioned to the kitchen before grabbing his jacket and heading out the door. You got up and made your way in-but you stopped before crossing the threshold.

The kitchen looked almost like a normal one; refrigerator, microwave, stove and oven, counter… and a six foot tall sink. "What." You blinked, staring at it. Why was this a thing? What did monsters even use sinks for? Why did it have to be six freaking feet high? You rubbed your forehead before opening up the door to the sink, seeing a massive pile of bones.

You stood there for a solid thirty seconds, contemplating your life choices, before finally closing the door. Okay. So the underground won't be as normal as you expected it to be, which was very little in the first place. Thank goodness you had Sans to help with everything down here.

Breakfast. Right. You refocused yourself and turned to open the refrigerator, sighing a breath of relief when it was just a regular one. You half expected it to be one that warmed things up instead of cooling them, but that wasn't the case. "Hmmm…" You glanced around at the food options, nothing quite catching your attention. You sighed and went to the cupboards, seeing if there was something else. Oatmeal, yeah that works.

You grabbed the small brown packet and a bowl, tearing open the bag and dumping it in. This has to be the easiest breakfast ever, all you need is- "...Water." You looked back up to the sink, heart dropping ever so slightly in your chest. Right. You can do that.

After a moment of looking around, you found the empty garbage bin and brought it to the sink, turning it upside down to use as a stool. It was high enough for you to touch the sink, but not enough to turn on the water. You grumbled, stretching to no success. You opened the fridge door and stepped on it precariously to get just a little more leverage. Closer… closer… almost-

"That looks dangerous."

Sans' voice startled you, causing you to yelp and lose footing on the fridge door. The trash bin tilted and fell to its side, and the ground rushed up. Blue surrounded you, freezing you in place in the air.

"Heheh… Let's try not standing on things that will get you hurt." Sans chuckled lightly, putting you down on your feet. The blue aura left and you found it easier to breathe.

"Thanks… What is up with your sink?" You held the bowl out for him. He chuckled and grabbed it, using his blue magic to raise it up to the water and get some. Lucky shit.

"Papyrus thought it was a great idea to get the extra space to store his bones. Not exactly practical for most kitchen uses, but whatever." He gave you back the bowl, and you pushed it into the microwave. "We'll figure something out so you don't have to climb up there whenever you want water."

You nodded, relieved. "Sounds good, doing that left me rather… _drained_."

"Ayyyy!"

" _Ayyyyyyyy_!"

.

After a few more puns and breakfast, the two of you headed out into the snow. It was no longer falling from the cave walls, but it had left a fresh layer of white fluff on the ground. Sans showed you the rest of Snowdin, and the two of you met a couple of monsters that Sans didn't recognize. They were burying a human in the snow and making her into a snow-mermaid, so you couldn't see much else except for a head, but she seemed like she was having a fun time. You had to laugh though, it seemed like every time she breathed her breath fogged up her glasses, and she was in no position to fix that. One of the smaller monsters (A kitten-like one, you think?) was playing with her fluffy red hair that wasn't in the snowcap, successfully entertaining the both of them.

You let the human continue to be buried alive and resumed your adventure with Sans. You crossed some bridges and walked without seeing anyone for a while, and nearly slipped on some ice a few times. Sans always managed to catch you either physically or with his magic, and he never seemed to struggle with any of the ice himself. You supposed that talent came from living here for so long.

The views you saw were absolutely beautiful. Cliffs lined the path and gave you a wonderful view of how vast the underground was, at least this section of it. It still amazed you that there could be all of these pine trees without a real light source. You vaguely wondered if trees down here were magic as well, and different from trees on the surface. Your thoughts drifted to houses, and whether houses made of magic were any different than normal ones. Mid-thought you slipped on some ice again, just to be caught by the blue aura.

"Hehe, _chill_ , _ice_ got you." He grinned, pushing you right side up. You half laughed and half groaned at the terrible pun, quickly rolling up a snowball and throwing at him. Your timing must have been perfect; you ended up catching him mid blink, hitting him square in the forehead.

"There's _snow_ cause for such _flaky_ puns." You quickly run to behind a snow pile as Sans brushed his face clean, feeling like a child in the snow. He laughed for a couple moments at your puns, clearly loving them.

"Heh, good one. I think we both know I'm the pun _winter_ though." He leaned down and scooped a handful of snow, but before he could use it you launched another snowball in his face. You giggled and ducked down, hearing Sans sputter and brush himself off again. "Alright, not _cool_." A snowball embedded itself in the ground next to you, followed by another one closer.

"What, you want a _snowbell_ prize to be _hailed_ for your puns? Sorry, but I-pfftuah!" You sputter as a cold snowball hit your face, thankfully soft enough to not hurt other than the shock of the cold. You brush your face in time for your chest to get assaulted, and when you turned to run another collided with your ass. Sans was laughing hard now, hardly able to keep steady.

"No need to give me the _cold shoulder_. We aren't in any _flurry_ today anyway." He snickered, throwing more snowballs at you as you managed to duck behind a snowdrift.

"Uh. _Igloo_." You lamely ran out of puns, and quickly threw another snowball at Sans, who easily stepped aside.

" _Ice_ addition to the puns." Sans closed his eyes and laughed even harder at that, and you took the opening.

"Aaaaaasomethingcatchyaaaaa!" You shouted and charged at the short skeleton, tackling him into the snow. The two of you landed heavily with a "woomph", laughing at each other and lazily laying in the cold.

Sans seemed so happy, laughing honestly and wearing a genuine smile on his face. It was nice to see again. You never wanted it to go away.

"Heh, what, do I have something in my teeth?" Sans asked, noticing that you were looking at him. He brought a hand up to his mouth.

You shook your head with a laugh. "No, you numbskull, I'm just loving your smile." You plop your head down on his chest, relaxing against him.

"What do you mean? I'm always smiling." He half chuckled, but you shook your head against his ribcage.

"No you aren't."

That seemed to startle him, and he looked down at you. You squeezed a hug and pulled him close as you could manage.

"You aren't the only one to fake a smile, but it sure is nice seeing a real one every once in awhile." You mumble while getting comfortable. Sans didn't seem to have anything to say at that, but you felt him shift his weight around to get comfortable himself.

Thank goodness it wasn't that cold in the snow… it was rather comfortable actually. And after the snow war you just had, a five minute break could do the both of you good.

.

After who knows how long of a nap, the two of you woke up to snow falling from the sky and had almost covered the two of you. After a few laughs, you brushed off each other and started heading back. You didn't know the time but the two of you were getting hungry.

"Fuku's?" You asked, Sans nodded, seeming to like that idea.

"We can see what food she has. Hopefully something similar to her old man." Sans chuckled. "If not, we can head to Muffet's-oh, wait. She's above now, heh… We'll find something." Sans shrugged and helped you across some ice.

Soon enough, you managed to get inside the warm tea bar, and shook off all of the snow that was lingering on you.

"Hello there!" The cheery voice greeted you, and Fuku was waving from behind the counter. A couple other monsters were there drinking their own teas, along with the girl that was getting turned into a snow-mermaid earlier.

"Hey." You and Sans step up to the counter, looking at the lit signs again. Seemed like her specialty was bubble tea, but she had a selection of colorful macarons and mochi as well.

"Glad to see you guys again! I suppose you liked the teas from last night?" She looked at the two of you, gladly awaiting feedback.

"Yep, so much that I'll have another." Sans reached in his pocket and pulled out some coins. "We'll also try… some strawberry mochi?" Sans glanced at you, and you nodded.

"Sure. I'll have a pomegranate tea this time."

She nodded, writing some initials on the outside of a cup. "Bubbles?" She asked, and the two of you nodded. "Coming right up." She ran to the back room, and you immediately felt the area get just the slightest bit colder. Must be handy being your own heater in a winter wonderland.

After a while of waiting, she came back with the two cups and a little box of pink round… things. You didn't listen to the total that Sans paid, you were too focused on making sure your cup had a "P" instead of a "K" marked on it. You weren't going to make the same mistake twice. Once Sans paid, Fuku leaned over her counter to you.

"Psst. I know you humans have 'special needs' that monsters don't have…" She made air quotes as she whispered. "If you ever need to… 'you-know-what,' I have an open restroom out back. I know a lot of monsters don't have bathrooms in their homes, so feel free to use it whenever you need." She gave you a wink, and you weren't really sure how to react.

"Oh, thank you." You nodded awkwardly.

Sans grabbed his tea and the small box, and looked around the ex-bar. "These probably won't fill us, but hey it'll be a good snack. You want to eat here, or head out and hang someplace?"

"Let's explore some more. Preferably not in the snow though, aha…" You rub the back of your neck and face him, not sure what else was left of the Underground.

"Sure thing." He gave a wave to Fuku and started heading out, so you followed him, quietly sipping on your fruity tea. The tapioca bubbles were so fun to chew, you didn't know what it was about it. It didn't taste like much alone, but it was enjoyable anyway.

The two of you trudged through the snow past Sans' house, eventually getting to what looked to be an entrance for another cave. It actually looked like the "Underground" you were expecting. "Huh." You looked around the cave walls, noticing little glowing flecks of crystal embedded in the stone, giving off just enough light to see by.

"Wow." You shook off the last of the snow, and a glowing blue flower caught your eye. You stepped closer to it, amazed at how brightly it was lighting up.

" _Sometimes all you need is a bad idea…"_

You jump back, startled when the small voice whispered to you. You looked around quickly, looking for Gaster to be hanging around, but that wasn't right… It was only one voice. Sans saw your expression and chuckled.

"Heheh, nah, Gaster isn't back yet. What you heard was the Echo Flower." He motioned to the glowing flower, bringing your attention back to it.

" _Gaster isn't back yet. What you heard was the Echo Flower._ "

"They tend to just echo whatever they hear. Not entirely sure how they work, but if we get two of them together I can show you something pretty funny." Sans had a smile on like he was holding back laughing at the thought.

" _I can show you something pretty funny_."

Well… as beautiful as these flowers were, they could be rather creepy. You were glad you weren't just hearing voices though. "Hah… alright." You smiled, and Sans continued walking. You stepped away from the flower and around the small waterfall to follow Sans.

" _Gaster isn't back yet._ "

.

After some walking, Sans suddenly stopped, turning to you. "Close your eyes."

"What?" You blinked.

"Come on, close your eyes." He said again, smile growing on his face. You gave him a look and did as told, sipping on your tea. You felt his hand take your free one and start leading you through the cave, though being led in the dark was disorientating. Eventually you got the impression that there was more light just past your eyelids, but Sans continued to lead you.

"Careful, crossing some wood." Your feet made some boards creak, but luckily it felt solid enough to be of little concern. A few more steps and Sans stopped.

"Alright. Open your eyes."

You did as you were told, and gasped in awe as the view came in place. Dark cave walls surrounded a large area, but neon blue water weaved around the room and lit it up, shining under the bridges leading from one little mass of ground to the next. Some tall water plants hung in the glowing, slow-moving river, and more echo flowers littered the islands.

"Oh my gosh." You utter, completely enraptured by the view. Sans was smiling at your reaction.

"Heheh… yep. Sure does look nice. One of my favorite places to patrol for humans." He gave a wink before sitting down along the edge of the river, feet nearly touching the bioluminescent water. You did the same, the tip of your heel touching the surface, and sending a wave of light out. How intriguing… You tapped your shoe at the water, again seeing multiple bright circles lead away from your foot.

"Wow." You smile, sipping at your tea and chewing a few of the bubbles. You wanted to take a picture with your phone… but it could wait. The scenery wasn't going to change any time soon. Sans pulled out the small box of mochi, grabbing one for himself and placing the box between you. You grabbed one yourself and bit into it, surprised at the smooth texture it had. It was… squishy. Very tasty, but at the same time not too sweet. "Nice choice."

"Yep." The two of you sat there in silence for a while, enjoying the view and each others company as you snacked on the soft squishy treats. Man, you hoped magic made up the lack of adherence to the food pyramid. You haven't exactly been eating balanced meals lately…

"Oh yeah, the thing I wanted to show you…" Sans started to get up with a smile on his face. "You are going to love this, make sure you record-" His sneaker suddenly slipped on the edge of the land, and a large splash of neon water hit your legs.

"SANS!" You shouted and jumped to your feet, looking into the river. Bright blue lights covered the broken top of the water, making it hard to see anything under it clearly. You could see hints of Sans' white skull under there, big bubbles of air bursting above it. You remembered back to the beach _. Sans can't swim_.

You immediately jumped into the water, nearly shocking yourself with how warm it felt. Your eyes didn't like being open under the water, the lights were playing with your vision and probably wasn't the healthiest thing to do, but you frantically looked underwater for Sans and-

He stood on the river floor casually, awkward smile on his face.

The river wasn't terribly deep, probably around six feet at most, but just enough to fully submerge the skeleton and panic you, apparently. You opened your mouth, not realizing your mistake until you were choking on water. You sputter and swim up, getting a breath of air before ducking under the water again. It was much easier to keep underwater, thanks to all of your wet clothes pulling you down. Sans looked like he was laughing, tilting his head back slightly and air bubbles escaped from his eye sockets. Such a little shit. Did skeletons not need air?

You made your best attempt at a glare before swimming down to him, and using all of your strength to grab him and swim back up to the surface. He grabbed the edge of the land, still giggling as you grabbed the edge as well.

"Sans, what the hell?" You coughed, wiping your face.

"Heheheheh, that wasn't what I wanted to show you, but your face was hilarious." He continued to laugh. You pulled yourself up with some struggling, and slipped the soaking jacket off of you. One side hit the ground a little harder, getting your attention.

"Oh no!" You open the pocket to see your phone just as wet as the rest of you. The screen was black. "Fuuuuuuck." You grit your teeth, shaking it off as if it would make a difference.

"Shucks, sorry vertebae. _Water_ we suppose to do about that?" Sans' shit-eating grin caught the corner of your eye, and you looked at him. "I suppose we could _fish_ one out of Alphy's old lab that you could use, but I'm sure this one will be _mist_."

You had no words for what you felt. You simply grabbed his hands that were holding him to the ledge and leaned close to the side of his head. "Long live the king."

"Wha-" You shoved that pun lover back into the water like he deserved.


	35. Okay Day

Authors note: In case you guys didn't see the personal update through tumblr, my credit card recently was stolen and had charges of over $160 placed on it before my bank notified me, so now I am in the process of getting a new card and getting that money back, meaning that I am completely broke until I get my new card. While I should be fine, supporting me through or via my coffee button would really be appreciated (both found on my tumblr, madlyinlov3onda).

.

* * *

.

After a few more laughs in Waterfall, Sans continued to lead you around the underground. Thankfully the next stop was Hotland, or at least that's what a giant electric sign to the side of the walkway said. Whoever named places in the underground obviously didn't have much of an imagination. Snowdin had lots of snow, Waterfall had some waterfalls, and Hotland was very, very, hot. Must be due to the lava that was flowing everywhere, but you could be wrong.

"Hey, that used to be my old station." Sans motioned to a small stand that was full of plushies and hand-held fans. A monster that looked like a miniature volcano was sleeping behind the stand with a big smile on its face before Sans spoke, and blinked itself awake. A large puff of smoke spewed out of the top of it, apparently startled by the two of you.

"Oh! Ahh! I'm open!" It smiled at you with a blush, shifting its weight side to side. Sans chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

"Hey Vulkin. What's with the store?" Sans motioned to the plushies, you realized they were likely other monsters from around here. One looked like the mini volcano.

"Humans! Enjoy cute things! I… am cute!" It announced in a familiar way. It had a similar speaking pattern to the Temmie you rescued a while ago, if a bit clearer. "Feels so warm! I help!" It pushed one of the mini fans towards the edge of the stand, smiling largely at you specifically.

"Thanks, but we're just here for a little bit. If we need one later we'll stop by." Sans nodded to the monster and continued walking, and you followed him. It really was warm, your jacket felt like it already dried in your arms.

"There sure is quite the diverse choice of land to live in down here…" You said while looking around, making sure to keep away from the edges of the path. The cave walls towered high above you, streams of lava lining the walls and down to the lava pit far below. It felt a bit like the old video games where you had to jump on platforms to avoid the rising lava, but thank goodness that wasn't the case here.

"Yep, and that's just this side of the Underground. There is a lot more to the underground, but this area is the most famous due to the humans." Sans said, motioning vaguely around. You brushed some sweat off of your brow and focused on the structure Sans was heading towards. It was a large, rather out-of-place white building with "LAB" on a sign above the doors.

Sans got to the doors and knocked on them, and they opened automatically. "Heh, nice, still open." He walked in and you followed close behind. True to the sign, it appeared to be a lab. A rather empty looking one, but it was as about as standard as you could picture. Much cleaner than what you expected of Alphys at least. "Hm. Looks like she took more than I thought." Sans looked around the room, seeming confused himself. He went to a polished wooden desk beside what looked like a huge monitor, and opened the drawer. Nothing but pencils and pens rolled around inside.

"So no phone?"

"Sorry, vertebae. Hopefully we can dry yours out and get it to work again." He shook his head and shrugged. "For now, let's find a real meal to eat. MTT Resort is probably still up, so let's check it out." You nodded to his idea, even though you didn't know much about the resort.

.

Apparently Sans was one of the most famous monsters down here. It seemed like just about every monster knew him. He even managed to sneak you into the MTT Resort Reservation List with little more than joking with the monster that had a massive hand for a head. It was rather terrifying to think about, and you found yourself not quite able to make direct eye contact with it. They didn't seem to care at least, they simply waved you and Sans in.

The food was great, along with the company. You and Sans chatted for what felt like hours before feeling rather drowsy, and deciding to leave. The two of you started heading back to his place but took an extra long route, exploring more of the dry heat of Hotland and the hidden beauty of Waterfall, before Sans stopped you and pulled you to a small hill that was absolutely full of Echo Flowers.

 _"This is so beautiful…"_

 _"Here's your bubble tea…"_

 _"The stones up there look just like stars…"_

Whispers of all sorts of echoes drifted around the two of you, but before you said anything Sans brought a finger to his mouth, silently shushing you. He motioned to two lone flowers that were standing side by side, slightly away from the others. They were ever so slightly colored differently, more purple than blue, but other than that looking exactly the same. Sans looked absolutely giddy as he sat beside one, motioning you close. You knelt down and curiously watched him as he grabbed one of the flowers, pulling it away from the other before bringing it close to his mouth.

"My voice is higher than your voice." He quickly brought it close to the other flower, and you could already see him struggling to hold back laughs.

 _"My voice is higher than your voice."_

 _"MY voice is higher than YOUR voice."_

It took you a moment to realize what Sans had started, but once you did you struggled to hold back your own laughter. Each time the special Echo Flower "echoed," it said it back ever so slightly higher pitched.

 _"MY VOICE IS HIGHER THAN YOUR VOICE."_

 _"MYVOICE ISHIGHER THANYOURVOICE."_

 _"MEHHEH MIIIIAAHHHH MEEEEEHHHH."_

 _"MEEEAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII."_ The "echoes" of the flowers quickly transformed into unintelligible high pitched screaming, and you found yourself on your back laughing your ass off. Sans appeared to be doing the same, tears prickling the edges of his eye sockets as the two of you laughed at the confused flowers. The other Echo Flowers around the two of you picked up your laughter, and appeared to be laughing at the other flowers as well.

"I can't… ahahah oh my god, Sans, why?" You wiped tears from your cheeks and struggled to breathe between laughs, looking at Sans as he held onto his giggling ribcage.

"Eheheh I have NO idea but this by far was my favorite discovery." Sans had another fit of laughter as the flowers continued to scream at each other. He stood up and brushed the dirt off of himself before offering you a hand to help you up. You accepted it and stood next to him, both of you trying to suppress your giggles. "They'll do that for a while, best we get going before we get a headache." He smiled at you and motioned along the path.

"Haha, alright. Poor flowers, we came all this way just to make fun of them and run away." You glance at them one last time before stepping through the Echo Flowers, and stepping onto the path with Sans.

 _"Gaster isn't back yet."_

You stop mid-step and look back at the laughing Echo Flowers, hearing nothing but laughter echo between all of them.

"Something wrong?" Sans asked, looking at you. You shook your head.

"Thought I heard something. Don't worry about it, let's get home." You give him a smile and the two of you did just that.

.

Night, if you could even call it that when there wasn't sunlight in the first place, was rather uneventful this time. The two of you got to Sans' home and put your phone in some rice, despite it being already dry from Hotlands. Ah well, maybe some luck will grace the two of you and fix it.

Not seeing much else to do but not quite feeling sleepy enough, the two of you curled up on the couch and started watching a television show from your laptop. Thank goodness there seemed to be a semi-decent wifi connection here, even though you didn't know how a cave would be able to get internet connection in the first place. You decided to not think too hard about it, and put on a show about futuristic space pirates that kind of looked like cowboys. Sans sure got into it, enjoying the captain of the weirdly shaped space ship most of all.

After a few episodes, you found it hard to keep your eyes open, and just snuggled close into Sans as you drifted in and out of slumber. Sans seemed too into the show to sleep, and absentmindedly ran fingers through your hair. You opened your eyes a crack and watched as the poor scatter-brained girl of the show was dragged to a stake to be burned for being a witch. You take a slow blink, opening your eyes to see the brother attempting to sacrifice himself to save her. It wouldn't work, of course. But that's what the captain and their friends are for.

You fall asleep before the episode ends.

.

The sound of a shaking window wakes you from your dreamless sleep, and you find yourself wrapped up in an incredibly fluffy blanket on top of a still-sleeping Sans. You yawn and stretch, and look over to the window to see almost solid white. Blinking a moment, you squint your eyes at the outside and see that it looked like a snowstorm was going on. How did the caves even produce enough snow and wind for a snowstorm? You thought hard for a moment before giving up and settling back onto Sans. _Magic_. Boom, the answer for literally everything down here.

You started drifting to sleep again, but suddenly jolted awake as a tune on a xylophone started playing next to you. Sans startled awake, looking around confused before dropping a hand to the side of the couch, and pulled up his phone. You recognized the music to belong to the "Spooky Scary Skeletons" song.

"Y… Yeah?" Sans flipped the phone open and brought it to the side of his skull. You heard Alphys' voice saying something, but it was just quick enough that you couldn't make it out. "Whoa whoa… Slow down. What happened?" He pushed you back so he could sit up, listening intently to the phone. He slipped his feet out from under you and got up from the couch.

You watched as he automatically seemed to pace around the room, listening to Alphys' frantic voice. "Anyone we know?" Sans asked, and immediately looked like he regretted asking. "You know what I meant. Anyone close?"

That looked bad. Alphys' voice listed off something, and you had a feeling it was names. An attack? Sans' hands clinched slightly, nodding to himself. After a moment of silence, Alphys' voice asked something and Sans hand a hand over his skull. "Oh, that's my fault. Vertebae ended up jumping in some water and got their phone wet."

You rubbed your eyes to get rid of the sleep, waiting for Sans to finish the call and tell you about it. Sans seemed to get the memo, waiting till Alphys' was done talking before speaking up. "Hey, I'm glad you all are safe. Try to keep together, alright? Don't be afraid to protect yourself. I don't care what the media says, I just want you guys alive." Alphys' replied and Sans nodded to the phone. "Alright. Take care." He snapped the phone shut.

"What happened?" You asked, watching as Sans fiddled with his phone.

"Dustings. Five monsters, close to your apartment." He shifted his weight and looked at you. "No one you would know, a couple of Whimsuns, a Woshua, Froggit, and Gyftrot…" Sans seemed quite bothered by that, and understandably so. "I don't understand… Those are basically harmless monsters, especially Whimsuns. Whoever is doing this isn't looking for a challenge… or even a real fight. They are just slaughtering at this point."

You looked down, taking an interest of the cuticle on your thumb. "The city doing anything about it?"

"Monster rights activists are demanding more police force to keep a lookout for Human Pride members, but the city likes to act like they don't exist. There are already people saying online that it was just a hoax, since all there is left is dust." He shook his head.

"Like I told you… humans are the worst kind of monsters." You looked at your feet and bit your lip. Even before monsters showed up, the same kind of shit went down for other humans. Humans apparently just need to be constantly fighting something, either themselves or other creatures, they didn't care.

"Not all humans," Sans said. You looked up to see him giving a slight smile to you. You smiled back, rubbing the back of your neck.

"Glad you think so."

.

It was hard to recover the morning with the news and storm, but eventually Sans teleported the two of you to the ruins, just next to a massive door. The storm could be heard through it, and Sans knocked his knuckles to the wood as if for good luck. He explained to you that he usually was on the other side of the door, and Tori was on this side, and they shared jokes. That's how they first became friends.

The two of you walked through Tori's home, and you noticed most of it had red ropes to guide you around the area for the tourist groups. It seemed… lonely. Sure, no one was living in it now, but even when Tori was here… You supposed that was how Sans and Tori became such quick friends through knock knock jokes.

The rest of the ruins were interesting, and felt rather fun up until the two of you got to a room where the entire path was littered with spikes. You looked at Sans, confused and unsure on how to proceed. He chuckled, grabbing your hand and walking forward. You felt afraid and pulled him back slightly, but soon as Sans' foot came close to the spikes, they vanished under the ground. He laughed and continued to lead you through the spiked path, and back onto solid ground. You shocked yourself with how cautious you were being, but you thought it might be because you were in a new area. A while longer of walking, you came to an archway, and heard the sound of birds and rain.

A few steps more, and you saw a small patch of flowers growing on the ground in the middle of the room, raindrops coming from the hole in the roof of the cave. Sunlight was sneaking into the room as well, giving an overall orange hue to the cave walls. There were no more rooms going off of this one you noticed. This was the beginning.

"Is this where Frisk fell?" You asked, looking back at Sans. He nodded with a smile, and you stepped forwards towards the flowers. They were small and yellow, but thankfully none of them had a face. You looked up to the hole, putting a hand under it and catching a few raindrops. You wondered if this storm was passing over the city as well.

"There isn't anything else to do in the ruins, I can get us out of here if you want." Sans offered his hand, and you accepted it. A blink and a sick feeling stomach later, you found yourself in Hotland again, and the two of you continued exploring.

.

The next day played out the same way, minus the monster dustings. The two of you would keep each other company, explore, make bad jokes and have good food. Everything seemed to pass by so quickly in the underground, it felt like time rushed by just by simply being here.

"It's an effect of the Underground." Sans said, sipping on his bubble tea beside you. The two of you just had dinner, and you were telling him how everything just felt too fast. "Probably something with not seeing the sun, or maybe the fact we are closer to earth's core? Though in reality that would only change fractions of seconds for us." He shrugged.

You were laying on your back, head on his leg and looking up at the bright stones that were in the roof of Waterfall. You had a hand dangling off the side of the edge, swaying in the warm glowing water to send bright light waves around the room. You let the idea mull over in your head for a while, before a thought came up.

"Sans?" You looked up at him.

"Mhmm?"

"How many resets did you go though?" You asked, and you could feel him stiffen up.

"Why do you ask?" He smiled nervously, kicking his feet in the water a little and trying to relax.

You shrugged. "Don't know. Curious, I guess. Flowey talked about going through a lot of them, and… I guess it's something to talk about."

Sans was quiet for a bit, before finally speaking up. "I stopped counting once I hit three hundred."

The number made you pause. That… felt like a big number. You couldn't exactly visualize it, but you tried picturing three hundred people to get a grasp on it. "Three hundred?"

"Well, I've been through way more than that, but you can only count for so long before you lose any meaning of anything, you know?" He said with a half attempt of a chuckle. You refocused on him, watching as he looked around the cave. "It was… hard. Counting was one of the first things I forced myself to do; it was something to keep me sane. First few times I thought I was just having serious déjà vu. Then things kept happening, and happening, over and over." His eye lights were getting dark. You rubbed his arm to comfort him.

"You are so strong… All those resets, and you didn't completely give up-"

"HA. Heheh. Aaaaand that's where you are wrong." The laugh caught you off guard. He looked away, an incredibly forced smile stuck to his face. "The truth is, I gave up on giving up. I give the kid shit for doing all of the things they've done, but honestly I'm hardly better. I've insulted and hurt the people closest to me, then the next day I greeted them with a smile, just to see if anyone remembered. They didn't. Even when I couldn't handle the resets, I had no choice but to stay. Offing myself just became too much of an effort." His breathing was strained and you could feel slight tremors through his bones.

You could see why the two of you never talked much about this before. To everyone else, the kid granting them freedom only took a single day. To Sans… how many years had he lost during that "day?"

You sat up and wrapped your arms around the shaking skeleton. "Hey… it's okay. I'm sorry I brought it up. I had no idea…"

Sans hugged you back, seeming thankful for the feeling of solidness. "It's okay. To be honest… it does feel a little nice talking about it. Not too many people would actually understand, heheh…" His voice drifted off, and you nodded into his shoulder.

"I'm here for you, and you don't have to worry about any more resets from me if I can help it." You smiled, and you felt Sans slightly tilt his head.

"I… actually don't think you will be able to any more."

"What?" You asked, pulling away from him slightly.

"Well, you haven't exactly been showing any signs of any Determination lately… I'm not sure, but…"

"Can I see my Soul?" You squared your chest with him, curious but confused at what he was suggesting. He shrugged, looking like he thought he was wrong as well, and brought a hand close to your chest. He turned it around and made a fist, and you felt air get tight for a moment before you Soul popped out of your body.

Not a single hint of red was on it.

It looked as if a bunch of kindergarteners were trying to paint your Soul at once, clouds of different colors growing and shifting from one shade to the next, rotating through almost the entire rainbow, all except for red.

"You lost your Determination."


	36. Decent Day

"Thats… no… no!" You felt frustration flood your system as you looked at the floating Soul in front of your chest. "That's not right!" You grabbed onto it, turning it this way and that to look at the changing colors, looking for any red. "That's not fair, I thought Determination was my trait?" Yellow flooded the Soul, only to become clouded with other colors and continue shifting.

Sans sat quietly and watched as you stared at your Soul. Clearly he was deep in thought as well, but he wasn't saying anything. You felt your anger quickly dissipate, leaving you simply confused at your supposedly defining trait simply… vanishing.

"…When did you notice?" You quietly asked, looking up at Sans. You had felt a little off for a while, but it was nothing you would have looked into.

"The last few days you've just been, well, different. You kept away from the edges of the path in Hotland, and didn't want to risk the spikes in the Ruins. You've just been less hazardous. Even that day you tried making oatmeal and tried getting water… it was less Determination and more Perseverance." Sans listed off, and you felt like he was right. You had a hard time pinning down what the difference between Determination and Perseverance was, but as you thought back to that day your Soul turned a shade of purple, before quickly being overrun with more colors.

You thought back throughout the past few days, trying to think of what could have happened to make you lose your Determination. "… Gaster has it."

Sans looked up at you, surprised you came to that conclusion. "What?"

"I think he stole it from me. That machine… he said it needed Determination." You swallowed, feeling slight burning in your chest. "We need to get Gaster back here, and make him give it back to me." You pointed to your Soul to better express yourself, seeing that it turned to a yellow again.

Sans shook his head. "That's fine in theory, but… Monsters can't just steal human traits like that. Besides, that would be way too much Determination for any monster. Even a few spoons of the stuff can cause monsters to fall apart and deform-"

His voice stopped mid sentence, eyes staring at nothing. You remembered back to your first night in the Underground, how Gaster was losing his shape and melting into nothingness in his final moments of being 'real.' "That son of a bitch." Sans ground his teeth, bringing a hand to his forehead. "You're right."

"We need to find a way to bring him back from… you said he was probably in the Void? How do we get him out?" You immediately started thinking of ways to get him back… maybe the machine?

"We can't… The Void is literally nowhere, and that makes it a bit hard to pinpoint on a map. He should form in this reality again soon enough, but I don't know any way to speed up the process." He rubbed the back of his skull.

You sighed, a light blue fluttering on your Soul a moment before you shoved it back into your chest. "Then I guess we wait for him. Hopefully we can get my Determination back… I feel… weird without it, now that I know it's not there."

"I assume so. Come on, let's go home." Sans stood up and offered you a hand. You accepted it, and immediately felt the world whoosh around you until the living room came into view, and it was a slight challenge to keep your nausea under control.

You looked around the room, seeing how the pillows and blankets were still messily thrown onto the couch… It'd been days since you first arrived in the Underground, and yet the two of you had been sleeping on the couch. You shook your head and grabbed the blankets.

"Whatcha' doing?" Sans asked, watching you awkwardly gather the blankets and start heading to the stairs.

"We are going to make your room decent, and use it. We can't be bums forever."

"Not with that kind of spirit." Sans chuckled, grabbing the pillows and following you up.

.

The two of you spent a bit of time cleaning the room, though Sans was the one that needed to take the trash that was in the self sustaining tornado. You still didn't ask about it; honestly, you weren't sure if you wanted to know. Thankfully the wind died down and the tornado vanished once the trash was removed.

The bed was made, and the two of you snuck under the covers and cuddled to stave off the chill in the house. You hadn't noticed the cold until you were pressed against Sans, whose bones were so very comfortably warm. "Mmm… Magic is nice." You smile and pull him closer. He chuckled, wrapping his arms around you.

"Sure is." He ran a hand through your hair, massaging your head in the process. He seemed quiet. You looked up at him, and didn't even need to say anything before he responded. "Just thinking. It's been a few days… we should probably start sticking to the house and teleporting when we want to go places… But I really love being in Waterfall with you. Blue just… suits you, you know?" He chuckled a little, looking away.

"Well… are there any other hidden parts in Waterfall we could sneak to, that aren't so open maybe?" You asked, wanting to do the same. Sans thought a moment.

"Yeah, actually. It's a bit away from everything, but it would work." He smiled, giving you an extra head scratch. "We can check it out tomorrow, but for now, try to get some sleep." He kissed the top of your head, and you gave him a hug.

"Night."

"Night, Vertebae."

.

You were floating in darkness. Absolute nothingness filled everything you could see, except for yourself. You looked at your hands-they were lit up, but there was no apparent source, and no shadow. It looked… off. You twisted your body, looking this way and that for anything, but it was just you and the darkness.

Sounds were nonexistent, except for the slight rustle of your clothes, and the sound of you breathing. Once that drew your attention, it seemed like it got much louder, and you almost felt claustrophobic in the open nothingness. You grabbed onto yourself, the feeling pressure of your hands- when not even air dared to touch you- felt almost painful.

You opened your mouth to speak, and you immediately felt shoved backwards into a wall. Gasping for breath, you look around to see what hit you, only to find nothing, of course, not even the wall you were shoved against. You were about to try and speak again, but a yellow light caught your attention. It was small, and far away, but you could see it branching out slowly in ninety-degree angles. You watched it pulse, slowly growing larger. You inhale, and open your mouth again, only for no sound to come out. Instead, you saw a small green light close to the edge of the yellow branches, and it started growing out the same way. You tried saying a few words, noticing other colors building up and growing into intricate patterns. It vaguely reminded you of the old Windows 95 screensaver.

It was beautiful. You knew it was a dream, but you couldn't stop watching as the lights pulsed and grew, weaving in and out of each other. You tried speaking once more, and this time red appeared. You immediately tried pushing yourself towards it, awkwardly swimming in the darkness towards the lights. It was growing very slowly, not yet branching around the other colors yet, giving you plenty of time to catch up.

You ducked and swam around other branches, getting to the middle of the massive cluster of lights and colors, all the way up to the small red light. Your Determination. Sure, this was a dream, but this had to mean something. You reached out to grab the red light source, quickly pulling back when the red suddenly branched out quickly, as if a miniature explosion happened inside of it. You tried again, this time the branches grew out enough to collide with others, immediately tainting them red as well. All of the beautiful lights that were surrounding you turned to a dark red, pulsing and glowing around you, growing more cubed-like, with you in the center.

It was a trap.

You sit up quickly, cold sweat on your brow. Thank god, you were awake. You rubbed your forehead, feeling a headache already making its rounds in your skull.

"Two hundred fifty-five. Zero. Two." A whisper made you freeze. You looked around, looking for its source, but nothing came.

"Two hundred fifty-five. Zero. Two." It whispered again, quieter this time, almost like an echo from your dream. Coordinates? You immediately turned and shook Sans.

"Sans, wake up! I heard things." You shook him, trying to get him awake. His eyes opened one at a time as he groaned.

"Wh…. Whaisit….." He mumbled, clearly still asleep. His eye lights looked fussy, drifting around in the darkness of his skull.

"I heard Coordinates. I think Gaster is trying to get help." You looked at Sans, watching as his eye lights rolled up and he closed his eyes again.

"Mmm… 'ave fun…Paps..." He exhaled, and fell completely limp to your shakings.

"Sans come on! It might be important!" You shook him again, getting no responses. You've never seen him like this, usually he was so quick to get up. Your mind scrambled trying to think of what to do. The whispers stopped, and you didn't trust your memory to remember the numbers for much longer.

"Okay Sans, I'm going down below and going to write down the coordinates, I'll be right back." You said loudly, getting no response from the skeleton, and you quickly threw on his sweatshirt before running out of the room.

"Two five five oh two. Two fifty-five zero two. Twenty-five, fifty, two …" You mumbled to yourself, grabbing the key from the small table and heading out of the house. You've been around the house to know that the only place with writing utensils and paper was the lab in back, which was probably something Gaster planned… now that you thought about it. You huffed, kicking your way through the snow and to the back door, fiddling with the lock a moment in the dark before managing to get it open.

"Twenty-five, fifty, two." You said out loud to yourself, closing the door, and rushing to the bench to the side. One pen, some scraps of paper, perfect. You quickly write down [2552] before looking at it. "Wait… no that's wrong… but I said fifty-two…" You bit your lip, drawing a line through the numbers and putting [25502]. Sure… that looks better.

A click was heard behind you, and you jumped to face it. Nothing. The machine was sitting there, as it was before, though the digital screen looked like it turned itself on. You really should just ignore it, and come back here with Sans when he finally manages to wake up… but you walked up to the screen, seeing three empty boxes waiting for input.

What if the Void moved locations? Then these coordinates, if that's even what the number was, couldn't last long. This might be your only chance to drag Gaster back here without waiting for him to form naturally, and who knows how long that would take.

You inhale, knowing that you were probably doing exactly what he wants. "Fuck it." You pulled out the keyboard and typed the numbers, seeing that they auto adjusted to [255.0.2] before turning red. Oh… maybe you remembered wrong? It was a complete possibility that these numbers didn't mean anything as well.

Sighing, you hit the [delete] key, but the numbers didn't go away. You raised an eyebrow, tapping it a few more times. You pressed a few other buttons to see if anything would respond, but it looked like the screen froze. "Did I break it?" You asked out loud, pressing a few more buttons randomly. The screen clicked and went black, shocking you. "Oops." You mutter, backing up from it. Right. Well, uh, you could just explain what happened to Sans tomorrow.

You turn around to leave, only to hear a slight whirring start from the machine. Keeping close to the exit door, you watched the machine hum and lights come on, doing who knows what. The lights of the room dimmed as the machine's grew brighter, and got to the point you had to look away or burn your eyes. Strange hissing sounds came from the machine, and it rattled like it was going to fall apart. Why didn't you wait for Sans again?

All at once, the machine grew quiet. No pop, no dramatic sound to say it completed something, just stillness. The silence was almost deafening, but the lights of the room gradually flickered back to usual, and you looked back at the machine.

You stepped back, staring at the creature in the glass room.

Gaster stared at you with his dripping face, looking far worse than his previous forms. His entire body seemed larger, but looked like freshly poured tar that was in the process of leveling out. One of the differences that caught your attention the most though, was the redness that was glowing from the center of his black body.

"Gaster." You stepped forwards, feeling a slight amount of bravery take over. Gaster had something of yours, and you wanted it back. He started laughing, and that bravery quickly vanished.

"Eh-eh-eh-eh… You brought me back?" The voice crackled and sounded more electronic and static-y, and you realized it was coming from the machine's speakers, rather than Gaster himself. "What ever could have you wanted me for?" He laughed again, his body bubbling and wiggling with every laugh.

"You know why. I want my Determination back." You forced yourself to maintain eye contact with the creature, trying to act like the one he should be afraid of.

He laughed harder, bringing a hand to his chest. "Of course! Let me give it back to you." He rushed forwards, body breaking up into squares that sputtered around him, only for him to hit the glass wall and reform. He looked confused, bringing an arm up and hitting it against the glass, only for his arm to splatter against it before reforming, leaving the glass perfectly fine.

"You're… real, in that form." You noticed, stepped forward, no longer afraid of the trapped Gaster.

"It would appear so." Gaster's form grew taller, as if he was sucking in his gut, and he looked down at you. "I thank you for dragging me out of the Void. Now open the door, and I'll give you your Determination back." His voice seemed irritated. He obviously couldn't teleport, otherwise he would have done it when he rushed at you. You felt a smile creep onto your face.

"Nope."

"What?" He looked offended, and his face started holding together a bit more, managing to keep solid eyes as he glared down at you.

"Well, I know where my Determination is now, and it doesn't look like it's going anywhere." You were getting dangerously smug about having him caged. "You obviously don't mean well, so I think I will just leave you here until I actually need to risk it."

"You are playing a dangerous game, human." He boiled even taller, clearly trying to intimidate you, if unsuccessfully. "Keeping dangerous animals in cages rarely works out for their owners." His voice whispered.

"You calling me your owner? Nah man, I don't swing that way." You couldn't stop the smile from invading your lips. "I'm just looking out for my personal health is all. I don't want to make any big mistakes while I'm down here-" Gaster cut off your smug explanation with laughter, the loud kind that he had to throw back his head for.

"Eh-eh-eh-eh… Big mistakes? Too late for that, human." He sneered down at you, hands smacking to the sides of the glass on either side. He had the distinct look of 'I know something you don't know.'

"What?"

There was a moment of silence as you tried to figure out what he meant, before there was a crashing sound from above, and muffled screams that sounded like they belonged to Sans. Gaster's smile curled upward as he chuckled again.

"You left Sans alone."


	37. Bad Day

Note: Thank you all so much for waiting so long and your continued support. Like. Shit adsgsf;gkalshd I love you guys so much. I don't want to keep you waiting.

* * *

You immediately turn and run out of the room, nearly slipping in the snow in your rush to get in the house. The front door slammed behind you as you rushed forward, not bothering to kick off your shoes or shake off snow. You could hear Sans' panicked screams clearer now, and dread filled your head as you leapt up the stairs, taking two at a time.

"Sans! What's wrong?!" You ran to his door, almost forgetting to turn the knob before slamming into it, and seeing him screaming into his knees. Blue magic flames coiled up from his left eye, lighting up the room enough to compare to daylight.

"Sans! What's going on?" You quickly sat in front of him, grabbing his hands and pulling them away from his skull, like how he once did for you. His screams cut short, eyes opening wide. His breathing was shaky, eye lights dancing around in front of him but not quite seeing anything. He looked horrified, his jaw shook like it took every ounce of self control to hold back his screams. You gave his wrists a slight squeeze, and rubbed your thumbs along the side of the bones to help draw his attention to you.

"I'm here, Sans. It's okay." You said, and he slowly looked up, looking almost afraid that you wouldn't be there. You could see wetness reflecting the light from under his eyes. " _Breathe_." You instructed. Sans looked like he instead held his breath, before suddenly pulling you in for a tight hug. He held on so tightly, it was almost painful for you. Slowly the blue light in the room dimmed, until the two of you were surrounded by darkness.

"O-oh thank-k God…" His breathing was shaky, and grip tightened as he pressed his face into the nape of your neck and shoulder. You gently rubbed his back, mostly trying to calm him down, but also partly to try and ease him out of his death grip he had on you. He must have thought a Reset happened… You bit your lip, feeling bad about leaving him in the middle of the night.

"I'm here now, I'm sorry I wasn't earlier." You let him calm down for a while, continuing to rub his back as he got his shakiness out of his system. You could hear him forcefully breathing slower, like the exercise he had you do during your panic attack. It sounded almost rehearsed.

After what felt like a couple of minutes, his death grip on you relaxed a moment, before he let completely go and sat up, coughing slightly. "I'm… I'm okay now. Sorry about that…" He rubbed his arm and looked away, brushing his cheekbones dry awkwardly.

"Don't be, I didn't know you'd have this reaction waking up alone…" You rubbed his shoulder, and he shook his head. "Not that I planned on you waking up alone, or anything. I really meant to be right back…"

"I should have realized it wasn't a reset… the bed was made, clue number one." He chuckled a little bit, clearly trying to lighten up the mood. "I didn't bother making it after the third reset, shame that the original Save Point was just after laundry day, huh?"

You nodded, realizing that meant that most of his time in the Underground was spent sleeping on the couch, or on the unmade bed. No wonder he seemed to love how well you made your beds... and it explained why he didn't appear to give much effort into it himself. "Do you need something to drink?" You asked, ready to get up from the bed.

"That would be nice, thank you." He nodded. You slipped your shoes off and stood up, happy that Sans was okay. Gaster had you convinced something horrible was going to happen, but it appears he can do anything as long as he is locked up, and you knew you weren't about to let him go.

A couple steps towards the door and suddenly you yelped, picking up a foot and falling back before finally registering the pain pricking up your leg. You hissed in a breath, grabbing your foot. "You okay?!" Sans quickly got off the bed to be beside you, flipping open his phone for light. A small piece of glass was stuck in your foot, and you noticed the broken lamp that was lying in front of you, just beside the door. Sans must have thrown it when he woke up.

"Sssssshit." You bit your lip, reaching for the glass shard.

"Hold on, I got it." Sans stopped you and raise a hand towards it, a blue light appeared around the glass. You held your breath, and the shard slowly pulled out, perfectly level with the cut, and didn't hurt any more than it already did. "O-oh and that's blood." Sans' voice said quickly, and he quickly scrambled back and dug through his dresser. He came back with a sock, handing it to you. "That should be clean." You nodded, pressing the clothing to the bleeding wound. It wasn't _terrible_ , but cut on the feet were hell to deal with and took forever to heal.

"We… don't have a first aid kit around here, do we?" You asked, and Sans shook his head.

"Monsters don't bleed. But I'll check Fuku's to see if she has one out back." Sans stood up, taking a second to motion to you. "Stay there." When you blinked, he vanished. The light vanished as well, leaving you in complete darkness. You shifted your weight on your butt a bit, waiting.

"Gee. That teleport business sure seems handy." You said out loud with quite a bit of salt in your voice. Gosh. Monsters and their super awesome magic. What do humans get? Bodies full of blood and colorful personality traits. Big whoop de fucking do. You sighed, leaning back on one hand and holding your foot with the other.

You blinked and suddenly there was light again. Sans stood beside you, struggling to get a tiny bandage open. After a couple seconds, he tore the paper off and knelt down beside you. You pulled away the sock, and he carefully put the small Band-Aid over the cut. It was just big enough to cover it, thankfully, but it didn't stop it from hurting. If you raised your toes even the slightest bit the bandage threatened to pull off, leaving you rather limited with your feet activity.

"It's amazing you didn't step on this when you first got in here…" Sans motioned at the ground, and lots of small blue lights appeared around other broken bits of the lamp, moving them all to the corner of the room. Easy cleanup.

"I had my shoes on." You shrugged, slowly flexing your foot to see the limits, before simply resting it beside you. "I suppose I should have kept them on until I went downstairs."

Sans was quiet a moment, looking at the floor with his phone to make sure he got all of the pieces. After a moment it seemed your sentence finally processed. "… Why'd you have your shoes on?"

"Oh, I tried waking you up earlier. I, uh, trapped Gaster." You laughed a little at your wording, awkwardly scratching the back of your head before leaning back on your hands.

"You _what_?"

You looked up and saw Sans looking at you with wide eyes. "I had a weird dream and woke up to someone saying numbers, so I tried waking you up but you called me Paps and fell back to sleep." You motioned vaguely with a hand, half shrugging." I felt like the numbers were important, soooo I went downstairs to go to the lab out back for paper, but then I ended up putting the numbers in the machine… and now Gaster is in the glass room." You summed up.

Sans blinked looking confused. "And… He's staying in there?"

"Yeah. He tried rushing at me, but he just got all pixel-y before smacking into the wall. Oh, and we were right 'bout him with my Determination. He looks like he has some red glowing from inside him." You double tapped to your chest to better explain.

"Oh." You could tell that Sans wasn't quite sure what to say to express himself. He seemed surprised at everything, but still quite confused.

"Yep." You exaggerated the "p" in the simple word, making a slight popping sound. For everything that just happened… you sure did seem light hearted at the moment. Sans however, seemed to be rather exhausted, for obvious reasons. He sighed deeply, bringing a hand to his face.

"Right." He shook his head and offered you a hand to help you up. "Lets… lets just deal with that tomorrow, yeah? Like proper adults, putting off possibly important turning of events?"

"Of course, like proper adults." You smiled and accepted his hand.

.

It was a feat to get Sans calmed down enough to fall asleep again. He was tired, yes, but you could practically feel the panicking thoughts scrambling in his hollow head of his, tormenting him on the verge of sleep. Thankfully with the forced closeness of the newly chosen sleep area, it was easy to wrap around the skeleton and keep him aware of your presence. The two of you opted to stick with the couch, despite having a perfectly fine bed at your disposal, and to be honest you were perfectly content that way.

That is, until you woke up with a pain in your neck. Lots of fun, that was.

"So, you guys didn't speak much before you heard my scream, right?" Sans asked, handing you a warm wet kitchen towel. You placed it on your neck, trying your best to relax the muscles.

"Not much. He, er… well he might be angry with me. I did get a bit cocky since he was locked up and not going anywhere. It's not like I mocked him or anything…" You shrug, rubbing at your neck. You had half the mind to ask for a massage, but you knew that would most likely take up the whole day with how Sans gave massages. Unfortunately, you had to actually do things today.

"Well, I could check the room as you wait here-" Sans started, but you shook your head and stood up.

"Not a chance in hell. I'm not leaving him alone with you. He stole my Determination, what could he do to you?" Your mind leapt at classic horror scenes of broken glass and darkness around. Who knows what Gaster might do? Not you. Sans seemed like he considered a moment, pausing and you waited for him to say anything along the lines of ' _He's my brother_ ' like you thought he would.

"Fair enough." He shrugged, and pulled on his coat. You dropped the towel onto the counter, and slipped on yours to follow him.

The back door wasn't locked, startling Sans but not you. You remembered you were in too much of a rush last night to bother messing with the lock. The door was partially open as well, but thankfully it seemed like it was the only one. Gaster sat in the middle of the glass room, blinking casually when the two of you walked in.

"Ah, about time you came to visit." Gaster smiled, mouth nearly dripping off in the process.

"Huh, so he really _is_ stuck in there." Sans looked over the screen that was next to the glass room, not bothering to look at Gaster much. "Well, I just wanted to see if he was actually trapped or just playing you. We can go hang out now."

" _What_?" You and Gaster asked at the same time.

"See you later Gaster, today is basically our last day to relax in the open so we are going to use it." Sans wrapped a hand around your side, waving the other at Gaster. "We'll drop off some food later, if you need that sort of thing."

"Sans! What do you think-"

The world dashed around you, turning your stomach upside down as blue formed in your vision. A moment later, you found the ground of Waterfall under your feet, and you swallowed hard to keep back your nausea. Sans was chuckling like a child, holding his non-existent gut.

"Heheheheh! Did you see the look on his face? That was great!" He laughed some more, catching you off guard.

"… And I thought _I_ was cocky." You smile rather concerned, having a bad feeling in your gut about everything. Maybe it was just the teleportation sickness. You kept most of your weight on your good foot as you looked around the unfamiliar area. You could recognize the signs of Waterfall from the neon blue stones and flowers, along with running water nearby, but the two of you haven't been this way. That struck you as odd, since it seemed that the two of you wandered everywhere the Underground offered. "Where are we?"

"Below the lower region of Waterfall, the part that connects to another section of the Underground. A lot less people will be around these parts since it isn't where any humans crossed." He flashed a smile over his shoulder to you. "Well, at least until now. Congrats on being the first human in these parts of the Underground."

You let the words sink in and started walking around, keeping careful attention to keeping your foot flat as possible. Thankfully the cut from last night wasn't as bad as it looked in the dark, but you still didn't want to risk opening the wound.

The two of you walked through some puddles until the blue-lighted cave opened up, slowly revealing what looked to be a dark forest. You looked up to see towering trees, large enough around for at least six people to hold hands around a single one, and tall enough that a sort of fog covered the tops.

"Welcome to Tallwood. Creative name, I know." Sans snorted. "Our version of a jungle, I suppose." He smiled as you looked awed at the massiveness of the trees. You were careful to step over the huge roots that tangled throughout the ground, and made your way to what looked like the only source of light in this area; the mushrooms. They looked like those cheap nightlights you could buy online, but about thirty percent more magical. You turned back to Sans to exclaim your awe of the place, only to notice that the moss that covered the ground had slight glowing circles of where you last stepped.

"This…. This is amazing!" You couldn't help your smile as you looked around the truly magical forest that was tucked underground. "How on earth are people not freaking out over this?!" You quickly made your way to another tree, looking high as you can and just barely making out the outline of a house.

"Like I said, the tours are only interested in where the other humans have been." He shrugged. You felt yourself slip on the moss, but thankfully Sans seemed to be keeping an eye out for you, and caught you with his blue magic.

"That doesn't make sense though! There is so much to the Underground—"

Sans chuckled and cut you off. "And I'm sure all you humans visit every inch of the other countries you visit as well, not keeping to the most famous cities and such." The sarcasm was clear in his voice, and you were going to try and correct him, but he was right. Unless a local told a tourist to go someplace else, they kept to where everyone else was. All of the locals of the Underground were either out, or sticking to their home area. No one would have any reason to be exploring out of the actual tour.

You silently thought a moment, before bringing your attention back to the wonderful place so many humans were missing out on. As tall as the trees were… the overall feeling that you were in a cave didn't leave. You could still easily make out the sides of the cave wall on either side of you, it was perhaps a football field's length at most from one side to the other, but the path ahead seemed like it carried much further. You strained your eyes back to the tree tops, and started noticing more house like structures, along with bridges from one to another.

"Yep. Monsters lived up there instead on solid ground. You'd think they would have a reason, but it turns out they just really like the aesthetic." Sans commented, noticing you looking up. You laughed, figuring that they had the right idea. You take a few steps, before finally feeling a slight ping of pain creeping up your foot. Taking that as a sign to calm down, you sat on a bundle of roots and relaxed your feet out in front of you.

"Foot hurting?" Sans asked.

"Just a little. Small break and I should be fine." You gave him a smile and he nodded.

"Well, I suppose it's getting close to a time we should eat… You want to wait here while I grab us something?" Sans offered, and your perfectly timed stomach growled. "Heheh, I'll take that as a yeah." He chuckled, and you nodded with a side smile. "I'll be right back. Don't get lost without me."

"Ha, I wont be moving from this spot. Maybe get some bubble tea?"

"Sure thing." He nodded, and in the next second he was gone.

You inhale the strange wood scent and stretch, before settling against the roots and looking around. The trees felt… almost off-putting now. They looked like trees, and—you gripped the roots under you—felt like trees, but at the same time there was a strange sense that they weren't normal trees. Probably magical in some way or another, but still.

As you sat in the silence, you noticed the area get gradually dimmer. You turned towards the closest tree and reach towards the mushrooms to see what was going on, and at your movement they sprung back to life and were glowing again. Huh. Motion sensitive bioluminescence. How weird. You smiled and relaxed again, letting the area slowly get darker, yet darker… until it was solid blackness around you.

It was short lived, and a few yards away some mushrooms lit up. "Sans?" You asked, trying to keep from moving as much as possible, and the mushrooms gave only the faintest glow. "That was quick, usually Fuku takes longer to make the drinks."

The forest was silent, only the slightest rustle of leaves hinted at any life around you. You squinted your eyes at the direction of the lights, before another area to the left of you burst to life, a clear gap of darkness between the areas. You felt your stomach tighten, and your fight or flight instincts were kicking in. _Nonononono_ today should have been another safe day, you guys should have been clear, there is no way- The mushrooms surrounding you sprung to life, lighting up the area and revealing a golden flower smiling up at you.

"Howdy friend! I thought I'd never find you here!"


	38. Worse Day

You almost tripped over a root from standing up so fast, startled from the golden flower looking up at you. "F-Flowey?" You asked, trying to keep as calm as possible.

"Eheh don't look so surprised! I've been looking for you for the past few days, you could have told me you wanted to come down here!" He smiled up at you, and you felt a slight amount of relief. He didn't think you were trying to avoid him.

"Y-yeah, well, you know what they say… spontaneous vacations are good for the soul or something, ha…" You started as casually as you could, heart hammering in your chest. You mentally willed Sans to take extra time with the bubble tea, maybe you'd be lucky enough that the cash register malfunctions or something. You needed to buy time to get away and think of what to do. "Well, you aren't supposed to be working out or anything during a vacation, so I guess I didn't tell you because I figured we would end up training-"

"Friends are supposed to do more than just train, remember?" He tilted his head at you, and you remembered saying something similar to him. "Besides, I can tell you a lot more about the Underground than Smiley Trashbag can." His smile grew, almost unsettlingly so.

"That's probably true, but uh… don't you have bad memories from being down here?" You asked, hiding some steps backward as shifting weight on your feet.

"I didn't have bad memories of this place," He looked up, smile growing teeth and sharp eyes before looking back at you. "I _made_ bad memories."

You took a step back, frightened, and Flowey's features immediately softened and turned back to 'normal.' "What? Was that a too much?" He asked, tilting his head, concerned. You nodded slightly, quickly trying to cover up your current fear.

"Just a bit. Hahah… sorry, I'm a little jumpy from, uh, hearing about what's going on back in the city." You made up the excuse quickly. "Lots of attacks on monsters, I've heard. Some Human Pride people dying too? That-"

"Oh! That was me!" He smiled brightly like it was a feat to brag about. You felt yourself staring wide-eyed at the flower, unable to move yourself. "What's wrong?"

You shook your head, feeling Goosebumps travel up your arms. "N-nothing. It's just… don't you think that killing them was… well, too much?" You asked, swallowing the lump in your throat. Of course it was too much, but you needed him on your side… or at least not hostile against you.

Flowey frowned. "They _killed_ you! Wouldn't it feel good to get revenge for that?" He asked back, seeming upset you weren't happy for his feat.

"If I was still dead, maybe, I don't know." You found your voice shaking ever so slightly, this conversation quickly not going the way you wanted. "But I'm alive and they never killed me, making the revenge—I don't know—void?" You didn't know where to go from there, but you could see the confusion rising on Flowey's face.

"What is it with you humans and showing compassion for people that hurt you?!" Flowey frowned. "No wonder you are always getting into trouble, you never end things when you should! I guarantee it would save you a lot of trouble ahead of time." He declared, his leaves moving in an exasperated way.

"I gave you a second chance, didn't I?" You asked, realizing the irony of that statement at the moment. Flowey thought a moment, head bouncing up with a thought.

"You are right! If you were dumb enough to trust _me_ of all creatures, how could I ever trust you to show mercy to _anyone_? They might be as bad as I am, and you would just be inviting them to stab you in the back!" He realized, and your gut chilled.

"Now hold on, I didn't-"

A vine snapped out of nowhere, wrapping around your wrist and cutting your contradiction off. "You need my protection even more than I thought!" Flowey grew closer, making you recoil and take a step back as much as the vine would allow.

"F-Flowey! I don't need your protection, I've been doing just fine!" You tried to reassure him, looking all around for an escape.

"Of course you need me! Friends look out for each other!" His vine gripped tighter on your wrist, pulling you down slightly with a yelp. "I won't let anyone else hurt you." His dark eyes locked with yours, driving fear straight into your core.

"No."

"What was that?" Flowey asked, tilting his head at you before you realized you said anything.

"No. I don't want your protection." You said clearly and short, trying one last ditch effort to maybe get to him. "This is not how a friendship should be, and I don't want this." It was hard to keep your voice steady, but you kept your eyes locked into his. You felt the rough vine around your wrist loosen slightly. Flowey's eyes diverted, confusion filling them.

"I don't understand…" He said quietly. " _Why_!?" He suddenly leapt at you, a vine wrapping around your throat and lifting you up into the air gasping. You quickly gripped around the vine, struggling to gulp in air. That seemed to make Flowey angrier. "Why do you not want my protection?! If I protected you, this kind of thing would never happen! I could do a better job than _he_ ever did for you!" He screeched, suddenly freezing.

"It's _him_ , isn't it?" He asked, dropping you to the ground with a heavy thud. You gasped in air, hand still around your throat. "It's because of that _Smiley Trashbag_ that you don't want anything to do with me, isn't it?!" His deformed face got close to yours for a moment before pulling back. "He can't protect you at all! How badly have you been hurt since leaving me, I wonder?" Your chest suddenly got tight, and you tried to grab your Soul before it popped out.

In your hands was your Soul, looking tie-dyed with purples and dark blue, and as you started to familiarize yourself with, not a spot of red. Flowey recoiled, horrified at the state of your Soul.

"Wha… What happened?! How could he—There's no…" Flowey started, his body slowly coiling up in distress. " _How could he let this happen?!_ " He let out a frustrated scream that pierced the empty air, all of the vines surrounding the area suddenly lashing out randomly like worms on the sidewalk. You immediately took the opportunity to get out of there, running as fast as you could and somehow managing to get past all of the vines untouched as he screamed. You needed to get out of here right now. The cut on your foot reminded you of its existence, but you ignored it the best you could as you ran and made it to the entrance of Tallwood, and into the small cave section that looked like it belonged to Waterfall.

To your dismay, it didn't seem like this part of cave actually lead anywhere else. You could see cave walls all around you, one even having a miniature waterfall running down from who knows how far up. You did a double take, noticing a ladder next to the waterfall. Perfect. You immediately stepped up on it, only to have your hurt foot flinch and nearly make you fall on the first step. You ground your teeth, trying again, but it hurt too much, you wouldn't be able to climb all the way up. You stepped off of the ladder, careful to be as quiet as possible and not let Flowey know of your position. Trying to keep yourself from panicking, you dug through your pockets but didn't find your phone. Of course you didn't have your phone on you, never mind the fact it's still dead, that would have been too convenient.

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm yourself. Everything is going to be okay, it always ends up that way. You will find a way to handle Flowey, and you and Sans will be able to get back home in time for dinner and give massages to each other all night. Yeah. You lied to yourself, trying to force the positive attitude. Purple light shone past your eyelids, making you open them.

A mostly-solid purple Soul hovered in front of you, and your eyes were drawn to the light blue band that was around it. Sans' band. You carefully grabbed your Soul, and hovered a finger over the band. You didn't have your phone, but you did have some way to communicate with Sans.

You tapped the band three times quickly, three times slowly, and another three times quickly. Did Sans know Morse Code? Even if most people didn't, almost everyone knew that pattern. You were so deep in your thought, you almost missed the faint call of your name.

You listened, suddenly realizing it got very quiet in the other cave. You heard your name called again, and you noticed it was Sans' voice. Oh no, he probably went to where he left you.

"Sans!" You shouted, quickly shoving your Soul back into your chest and running out of the hidden cave into the trees.

"What's wrong? I'm sorry I took so long, there was a problem with the register—" You saw him in the middle of a few trees, no Flowey to be seen. You ran in his direction, your foot feeling like every left step was on fresh piles of glass from the pain.

"We need to get out of here, right _now_!" You yelled, feeling your hair rise on end again. Something was wrong. Sans dropped the paper bag he was holding, seeming to get ready to do something before a vine suddenly whipped out, grabbing his arm and yanking him downwards.

"You see? _He_ can't protect you at all!" Flowey's voice shouted out from seemingly everywhere, cracking from his emotions. More vines broke out of the ground, some close to you and the rest around Sans, each wrapping around a limb and pulling him downwards as he struggled against them. The few that appeared near you immediately coiled your arms to your sides, picking you up ever so slightly so you couldn't move. You struggled, watching as more vines restricted Sans as he yelled and yanked with all his might.

"Flowey, please! Don't hurt him!" You screamed, kicking the air and trying to use your nails to claw through the vines holding you hostage. Flowey's unnerving laugh could be heard all around, and his head sprung up besides Sans.

"Ehehehehe… Hurt him? Of course not! Well… much." His dark smile grew bigger as he pressed the side of his face next to Sans', as if they were posing for a photo. "We can work together, after all! If you don't want my protection, I'll make sure he does it properly. I wonder how many timelines he told you about?"

That seemed to spark something in Sans, and all of his struggles became uncoordinated as he even more desperately tried to pull out of the vines. Your eyes barely caught the flash of movements his body was making, stretching, almost glitching as blue magic was flaring from his eye. He was trying to teleport, you realized, but the roots had him grounded. Bones exploded out of the ground all around him, cutting off a clear view.

"Sans!" You yelled, kicking the air and struggling to see what was happening. You could hear Sans yelling and the sound of something being unzipped. The vine holding you up suddenly let go and vanished underground, dropping you hard on your back and winding you for a moment. You quickly rolled up and ran into the bones, trying to get past them.

There he was. Sans had his jacket opened, and you saw him holding and trying to yank Flowey away from his ribcage, which was full of moving vines. The vines were twisting between his bones, quickly growing throughout his skeleton and creeping towards his arms. "Flowey! Get away from him!" You shouted rushing forwards to… to… you didn't know what.

Your chest suddenly felt too tight, and you were knocked back into a thick bone a few feet back. Sans had a hand open at you as his blue eye flickered at you. " _Run!_ " He grunted, but Flowey laughed. That was just the distraction he was waiting for.

Flowey's head immediately ducked down and pushed into Sans' skull through his neck, choking off a pained scream from Sans as he grabbed at his head and folded forwards.

Immediately everything was far too still, far too quiet, only to be broken by Sans slowly chuckling.

No, it wasn't _Sans_.

"Heheheh… There we go." His voice was mixed with Flowey's as his pose straightened too far, head rolling and looking at you with empty eye sockets and wearing the false smile. Flowey's head slowly peeked out of Sans' right eye, wearing his innocent smile. "You see? I told you we could work _together_."

Your gut tightened, every ounce of your body screamed for you to run but you could only stare at the horror in front of you, shaking.

"What's wrong, _Vertebae_?" He- they asked with a chuckle, the sound of vines moving and brushing against themselves the only other sound in the quiet forest. He stepped forwards, and the bones surrounding the area suddenly vanished, causing you to fall backwards. You scrambled back, kicking up dirt with your flailing feet.

"G-get away!" You yelled, backing into a tree. Sans' feet stopped a moment, seeming to resist before taking another step towards you. You felt like you were going to hyperventilate, your heart was hammering too fast and it seemed you couldn't get enough air.

Sans' left eye flared blue, and bones shot up between you and him, cutting his advances off. "What? Oh, how strange, you think you still have some control." His duo voice chuckled as his arm unnaturally raised, and he shoved the bones back underground.

"L-leave… them… alone." Sans' shaking voice said quietly, without Flowey's voice under toning it. You could see tears welling up at his left eye, and his smile was faltering for a moment. It quickly came back when Flowey started laughing, using Sans' voice as well.

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm doing this for them. Someone has to properly protect them. Isn't that right, _Vertebae_?" The nickname sounded corrupted when Flowey said it.

You couldn't respond. You didn't know how to. You wanted to scream at him and rip Flowey out of Sans' skull but you couldn't bring yourself to move an inch, your fear rooting you next to the tree. They stepped forward and you recoiled, pulling your legs closer to you. "P-please!" You yelped. "I-I don't want this! Why can't you understand?" Your cheeks felt wet.

"I think you aren't the one understanding." A frown appeared on Sans' face, matching Flowey's. "You know what, I'll prove it to you! Let's train!" You felt yourself lifted up by blue magic, pulling you through the air before it vanished, and you fell to the ground. You scrambled up and started running away from them, only for a wall of bones to block your path.

"Has he even bothered to train with you?" Flowey asked, and you looked over just in time to dodge a bone that flew through the air. "I bet he only let you train with Papyrus, huh? I wonder why that is." He laughed, and more bones suddenly flew at you. Gravity faltered, feeling heavy around you only to be normal again, luckily just in time for you to jump over the bones.

"Flowey! Don't do this-"

"The way I see it, either he was too scared to risk fighting against you, or, the much more likely reason, he didn't want you to know how to counter him." He laughed and motioned with his right hand. Gravity suddenly was coming from your left, you screamed and fell against the tree heavily, before falling towards the tree on the right. The magic vanished and you fell back to normal gravity, landing hard on the ground and getting a bone smacked across your face. It didn't hurt bad, to your surprise, but when more bones smacked into you one after another, you knew you were going to have trouble. You rolled out of the way, looked up, and saw a Gaster Blaster appear over Sans' head.

Your heart dropped, watching it open its mouth and light starting to build in it, only for it to vanish again. "What?" Flowey's voice dominated the question, looking up confused. "Fine, if you are going to hold back on me, I'll use my own attacks as substitute." A few white pellets appeared around Sans, and fired at you.

Normally you would be able to handle the pellets, but when paired up with bone attacks, along with the gravity switches, you didn't know how long you could hold on. A couple bones caused you to trip, and the pellets stung against your back. As you scrambled to get back up, you noticed one of the large bones of the wall vanished, leaving a gap for you. That was your escape route.

You ran with all your power to the hole in the wall, ignoring the few smaller bones that bounced against your back and slipped through. "Running is cheating!" You heard something that sounded like rope being twisted, and suddenly you couldn't move.

" _NO!_ " Sans' shout echoed through the trees, and you half expected a flock of birds to fly away. It would have been better than the sound of your heartbeat and the slight ringing in your ear, at least. You felt confused. Why weren't you moving? Why did everything get so cold? You noticed dark redness in your vision, and you looked over to your shoulder, seeing a thick vine protruding out of it, coated in blood. Your blood, you realized slowly. You reached up to touch the vine, at least you tried, your left arm didn't respond to your attempts, just limply hanging there.

"O-oh, I didn't mean for-" Flowey's voice started, and the vine pulled out.

You screamed and collapsed onto the ground, all of the pain suddenly hitting you all at once. Your vision danced, threatening to black out and leaving you with tunnel vision with only whiteness at the end. Your head hit the ground as you grabbed your shoulder with your working hand, and you heard the crunch of snow and coldness press against you. You coughed, desperately gulping in cold air and trying to think of anything other than the immense pain your entire body was burning with.

You looked up, ready to see what Flowey's reaction would be, but instead only white and brown filled your vision before focusing, and you saw the side of Sans' house. It was dark around you, only lit up by the nearby lamps and the pure white snow, which was slowly being dyed red under you.

You held your bleeding shoulder, feeling the warmth leak through your shirt and over your fingers as you struggled to lift yourself from the crunchy snow. This didn't make sense… Your head felt like it was being hit with a jackhammer, split on screaming for help or wanting to pass out. No, you couldn't pass out, that would mean the end of you. How were you here? You made your way onto your feet, one shooting foot long needles of pain into your legs but it was nothing compared to your shoulder, and you stumbled towards the door. You didn't know what you were doing, but you needed to do something.

You collapsed against the door, your shaking hand having trouble getting a grip around the cold handle and giving a pull, but it didn't give. You blinked, refocusing your eyes on the lock that was on the door. No. Nonono you don't have time for this! You yelled, pushing all of your might at the door. It was a solid door, there was no chance of it ever opening to most attacks, never mind the little amount of force you could give it in your current state

Suddenly the feeling of nails and pulling appeared again, causing you to scream and your gut to threaten to throw up. You fell to your knees and folded over your stomach, suddenly seeing purple. You swallowed and blinked away tears before looking up, seeing Gaster looking down at you with a tilted head.

You made it inside, somehow. You couldn't be bothered to ask how, and reached up towards a large red button on the keyboard that was besides the glass room. You had to stretch, and every molecule of your body was screaming in pain by the time you finally hit it. The sound of hissing air being released from somewhere could be heard, and you collapsed onto the tiled floor. Your nearly closed eyes drifted up to Gaster, seeing him tilt his head the other way.

"P-please… _help_." The pain became too much, and all at once, everything was gone.


	39. Worst Day

"You humans really are nothing but trouble."

A familiar but not quite welcoming voice woke you up with a shock, having the same impact as a bucket of water during a nap. Your eyes snapped open and your vision swam before the ceiling of Sans' living room came into focus. Confusion muddled the edges of your thoughts, quickly getting replaced with an overall ache that seemed to be coming from everywhere, along with a heavy sense of… something.

"Oh, you are awake now?" A pale broken face appeared in your view suddenly, causing you to yell and try moving away. A hand smacked down onto your chest, successfully holding you down as the broken face frowned. There was a tug on your left shoulder, needles of pain shooting through you clearly before fading into the clouded feeling throughout your body. "Stop that, you asked for my help, did you not?" Gaster seemed exasperated, even rolling his eye halos before turning his attention to your shoulder.

You were shaken, having a hard time connecting the dots of why you were here, or what was going on. Swallowing thickly, you slowly look over to your shoulder to see a glowing orange needle and thread slowly weaving through your skin around and over a wound. Every time it poked down into your skin you felt hints of pain, but not nearly enough that you expected. You figured it had something to do with the clouded feeling. Another thing that was not expected of this entire situation was what was inside the wound. Blackness.

"Could you possibly not breath so hard? Or, at all for the matter? It is terribly distracting." Gaster's agitated voice asked, and you became aware of how heavily you were breathing. You quickly inhaled and held your breath, almost on instinct. "Ah, so you can be obedient." Gaster noted, eyes glancing up at you for a fraction of a second before focusing back on your shoulder. Why was he out? What was he doing to you?

"W-what happened-" You started asking before Gaster's holed hand placed itself over your mouth. The hole was directly over your lips, so it was more of a gesture than being a practical way of shutting you up.

"Do be quite, dear. I know being mouthy is one of your key traits, but now is not the time." He said plainly, removing his hand from your mouth and bringing it close to the wound, applying the slightest of pressures.

You watched the needle do another pass, and you felt your heartbeat increase even more. Catching it, you inhaled again and held your breath slightly, trying your best not to anger the… rather normal looking monster.

You looked at Gaster, as much as you could from your current angle anyway, and noted that he most definitely not his blob monster self. He looked rather close to the form he took the first night you and Sans came down here before he melted, if not even more solid looking. His clothing still didn't seem to catch any light or cast shadows on itself, but something about it seemed like he was actually tangible this time.

"How did you-" You started to ask before you could stop yourself, and Gaster simply waved his hand at you to cut you off, a strip of black tar suddenly appearing on your mouth. Your reaction was muffled and you flinched, hand smacking over the black mass and trying to pull it off impulsively. Gaster let out an exaggerated sigh, grabbing your wrist and towering over, locking eyes with you.

The halos were burning. That's the only way you could describe the brilliant rings of his eyes. Pure white, with the smallest hints of orange along the inside, wisps of color swirling towards the center before vanishing. Each flicker, each flame, pulled you deeper into the abyss that was his eyes. You could feel yourself losing touch of reality, but you couldn't pull yourself back. You couldn't help but wonder if this is what a mouse felt like when they lock eyes with a snake.

He blinked.

You felt the spell falter, and you immediately closed your eyes and turned your head away, not wanting to risk seeing into his eyes again. You felt yourself taking shallow breaths, but Gaster must have expected that. A tug at your should let you know he was at work again, as if the whole thing didn't happen.

"Good. Now stay still, and stay quiet. I am nearly done." He spoke softly, the last words of his sentence drifting as he got more into the stitching. Your mind scrambled silently, trying to make sense of the situation, and trying to understand why he was helping you. What was that wound from? Where was Sans? Did he let Gaster out? Something was nagging at the back of your mind, but every time you reached out for it, it vanished.

"There." You felt the pressure at your shoulder lift, and you risked looking over. Gaster was looking at the finished stitch job, the orange glowing stitches contrasting your skin and the hints of the darkness underneath. "Well?" He looked you, and you avoided looking directly at his eyes. "Come on then, see if my hard work paid off." He crossed his arms, looking at your left arm and back to you.

You felt confused, but lifted your left arm slightly and tried to make a fist, but it was difficult. Your hand reacted as if it was incredibly cold, only managing a loose fist no matter how hard you thought you were squeezing.

"Wonderful, I didn't expect such positive results right away." Gaster observed, taking your wrist and bending it backwards. "Does this hurt?" He asked, and it stung slightly. You tried saying something like that, but the tar on your mouth stopped your feedback. Gaster looked at your face before giving the quickest of eyerolls, and waving his free hand up. The tar vanished.

"Y-yes. Slightly." You said quickly, not wanting the tar to come back. He nodded, grabbing your other wrist and turning them to face you.

"I have taken care of your earlier stitches, as they were overdue to be taken out- but I'm sure you had more on your mind." He motioned quickly to the inside of your arms before he dropped your wrists and tapped your bare foot. "I have also taken care of the small cut on your foot, and returned your Determination. Was that all for today?" He asked in the same tone a doctor would during a casual visit, and you felt even more confusion flood your head.

"U-uh… Yes? I mean-"

"Good." Gaster interrupted. "Now, if you wouldn't mind…" You yelped as you felt yourself lifted and spun around until you were hanging upside down by an invisible force, eyes level to his chest. Gaster grabbed the crown of your head roughly by his fingertips, forcing you to look up at him. "Tell me what happened to Sans."

Blood was already rushing to your head, and you struggled to not panic. "I-I-I don't know! I don't even know how you are out! I was going to ask you what happened!" You quickly said, shaking your hands. His grip vanished, and your head quickly swung back.

"You humans are so fragile. One traumatic experience and half your memory becomes faulty. Pah!" Gaster spat, hand motioning wildly. "Fine, human, take it slow. What happened to your shoulder?" He took a breath, calming himself down.

"My shoulder?" You looked over to the wound, unsure. "I don't… I can't remember-" Something about how you were looking down at it flickered a memory. A flash of white pain shot through your skull, and you saw the vine coated in blood sticking out of your shoulder.

It all came back in a rush. The vines. The pellets. The pain. The bones. Flowey. Sans.

It was too much, you felt your hands grab at your head. Sans! How could you have let this happen to him? The feeling of needles traveling across your skin appeared, and you landed hard on a bed. You gasped out, trying to suppress the sudden pains that were spiking up around your body until it faded once more. Your stomach was doing summersaults, but you managed to swallow your queasiness and realize you were on Sans' bed, quickly looking around confused. Weren't you just in the living room?

"What- Where did they-?" Gaster's voice came muffled from beyond the door, and you sat looking at it. You heard quick steps walk around the floorboards before stopping, and the sound of a door opening. "Human!" You heard his voice even quieter, and the door closed.

You grabbed at your head and face planted into the bed, letting out a slight groan. Why did these things have to happen to you? You couldn't just spend days enjoying your time around monsters, nooooo, you needed to go on a major adventure every few days to entertain the gods. Your angry thoughts bubbled for a moment.

You took a deep breath, and tried to process the memories nice and slowly. You were at Tallwood, and Flowey showed up. Flowey crawled into Sans, and you ended up fighting the two of them. You got stabbed through with a vine… and you had trouble focusing on the rest. You made it back to Sans' house… somehow, then you were in the lab… The clouded feeling in your body didn't help the remembering process, you figured.

"Ugh." You mumbled, sitting up and slowly sliding your feet to be hanging over the bed's edge. "What am I supposed to do?" You whispered to yourself, trying to think of anything you could do. Sans was physically possessed by Flowey. Gaster was out. You didn't know how many adventures your body could physically take before it became too much. You always managed to survive, but… you glanced at the stitching on your shoulder, then the scars on your bare arms.

You shook your head. You can figure out a way to stay out of these situations later, for now you needed to figure out how to get out of this one. Sans needed your help, and you weren't about to run away. You shifted your weight on the bed, and stepped onto the floor.

The floor rushed to meet you as your knees became jelly.

"Ow." You muttered, pushing yourself up with your hands slightly, before the left one stopped being helpful. The clouded feeling felt like it was coming in waves now, fading out just in time for bits of pain, before everything blurred at the edges again.

"I just spent all of this time fixing you, and yet you insist on being damaged." Gaster appeared in front of you, startling you. Unfortunately you weren't in any state to try and flee. Gaster stepped up to you and kneeled down, slight frown appearing on his cracked face. "I suppose you remember what happened now? Perhaps you would care to enlighten me on the subject?" He talked down at you like you were a disobedient child.

"Flowey…" You started, struggling to find the words. You figured it would be best to do as Gaster said for the time. He seemed like he was on your side, at the moment anyway. "Flowey grew in Sans… Like, possession or something." You shivered, partially because of the thought, partially because you realized you were only in a tank top and jeans. You don't remember wearing the tank top; it looked like one of San's.

Gaster seemed intrigued. "Again? It's been awhile since he attempted that stunt." He commented, shocking you.

"Aga- What do you mean 'again?'" You asked, confused at why he was so casual with the concept.

"Meaning it happened before, once or twice." Gaster explained the simple concept of the word 'again' to you. "Sans did tell you of the Resets, yes? The numerous amount of them? It would be rather boring if you didn't explore all of the possibilities, now wouldn't it?" He stood up and walked beside you, motioning his hands up. You felt yourself lifted and turned, until his arms grabbed you and carried your bridal style.

"U-uh." You uttered, not knowing what to make of the situation.

"Come now, no time to wait for the drugs to wear off." He took a step forward and the whole world broke apart, rearranging itself in fractions of a second until the lab came into view. You felt like you almost got whiplash, but there weren't any other usual pains from the transport.

Gaster sat you down on the counter next to the papers, and quickly started digging through the cabinets. "The last few times the flower had tried this, the Reset fixed the problem for us. However we cannot rely on such a phenomenon this time." He pulled up a large sheet of clean paper and started writing on it. You looked at the handwriting, realizing it wasn't another language, but it was just symbols. The mailbox drew your attention.

"WingDings?"

"Yes?" He replied, looking up at you. You didn't mean to get his attention like that. He waited a moment, turning his head slightly, expecting you to continue. "Yes, that's me." He explained slowly, still waiting for you to enlighten him to as why you called his name.

"Oh, no, I meant like… Your handwriting."

"What about it?"

"It's WingDings." You tried clearing up, 'tried' being the key word. Gaster sighed, touching his forehead and closing his eyes.

"Yes, it's mine, what are you getting at?"

"The font. WingDings is a font on computers." You finally managed to put together what you meant. "Your handwriting looks like that font."

Gaster look at you, eyebrows lowering slightly, confused. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean." He turned back to the paper and continued writing. "Distract me with your talk of fonts after we finish dealing with the problem."

You nodded, not that he was looking at you anyway, and watched him write. He wrote a few bullet points, striking through a couple of them.

"Why did the flower leave you alive?" He asked, looking up at you. "Obviously it looked like he attempted to kill you, but he missed. He is not known to miss." He gestured to your shoulder.

"He… was a friend? Well, friend is a very very loose term for that. Uh, we were- we trained." You settled for that. "We were training buddies." You tried summing up, and Gaster nodded, spinning his hand in the 'hurry up' motion.

"Yes, yes, I know of that." He said exasperated. "But why did he leave you alive? Surely just being his friend does not free you of his wrath, Papyrus is an example of that." That caught you off guard.

"Papyrus?" You asked, and Gaster quickly shook his head and motioned for you to continue, not wanting to get distracted. "Right, okay, well… I think he grew possessive of me? He went on a rampage after learning that I died, and killed others for revenge."

Gaster thought a moment. "Good to know." He continued writing, and you had no idea what he planned on doing with that information. He wrote, paused, and stood up to face you. "Alright, lets see it." He waited.

"What?"

"Your Soul. Come on, don't be shy." He motioned, waiting for you. You swallowed, bringing a hand to your chest and pulling your Soul out. The world swirled around you slowly, causing you to use your good hand to support you. The clouded feeling seemed to amplify when your Soul was out.

You closed your eyes and took a breath, slowing down your thoughts before looking at your Soul. Your mostly red Soul, you noticed, surprised. Almost solid red, if not for the small patches of other colors in the corners of the floating heart, along with the patch of blackness in one of the top bumps. The blue band in the middle of the heart had a couple specks of white scattered around it, concerning you.

"About as much as I expected. It is good to see that you had a positive impact on my bother, to say the least." Gaster stated, looking closely at the blue band. He looked up and saw you struggling to keep sitting up straight. He sighed and brought a hand close to your Soul.

"May I help speed up your recovery?" He asked, waiting for you. You nodded, not sure what he intended on doing, but you figured if he wanted to hurt you he would have taken the chance to do so earlier.

He carefully grabbed your Soul with the tips of his fingers, quickly motioning with his other hand and bringing a finger close. Redness grew at the tip of the finger, expanding until it looked like a long red claw. Slight panic grew in your system, not liking the look of that. He glanced at you for a moment, before piercing your Soul with the tip.

You yelled, arching your back and hands smacking the counter you were on, trying to get a grip. It felt like something was being driven between your shoulder blades, and your scream got caught in your throat. You could feel shifting inside of you, the clouded sensation feeling like it was being pulled away like a curtain, and hot pain replacing its place, immediately sobering you.

The claw left your back, and Gaster's hands caught your shoulders, keeping you from falling over. "There, there. How do you feel?" He asked, quietly.

"O-ow." You whispered, taking a breath and trying to suppress your shaking.

"Good." He pushed you back up to your sitting position and let go of your shoulders. You took a moment to try and recollect your thoughts, and pulled your Soul back into your chest.

"What… What did you do?" You asked quietly, slightly regretting letting him do it.

"Just gave you some more of your Determination back, and took out some of the left over drug effects." He leaned onto the counter, looking at his notes.

"'Some more of my Determination?'" You quoted, "I thought you said you gave it all back earlier?"

"Good to know you pay attention." Gaster rolled his eyes quickly. "I did not give it all, of course. I need some of it to be tangible here. I do wish I knew how strong your Determination was before I took all of it the last time. Could have avoided this entire mess." He muttered the last sentence.

"It's not yours in the first place." You mumbled back, and he looked at you.

"If you are trying to take back what I have rightfully stolen, you will have to wait. You need my help, and I cannot do it if I'm struggling to keep to this plane of existence." He stated, sliding his paper over and offering you his hands. "Now come on, let's figure out how to get my brother back."

"You have a plan?" You accepted his hands and pulled yourself to stand on the ground. The world seemed much more solid than before.

"Not quite, but if you haven't died yet, I figured nothing can kill you."

"I did die though, multiple times."

"That's beside the point. You are human, and the flower seems attached to you. Those, along with the fact Sans is still somewhat in control, are our biggest assets. You confront him, and leave the rest to me." He put a hand on your shoulder, and you looked up at him for a moment. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Take us to where you two fought." He clarified. You looked towards the door, and you heard him sigh quickly. "No, no, teleport us."

You looked at him confused. "I… don't have magic."

"Of course you do. You brought yourself to me, and you teleported away when you felt threatened." He waited again, slowly tilting his head. "You… really can't control it then? How intriguing. We'll look at that later then. Where were you when this happened again?"

"Tallwood."

"Right. Be ready then."

The world broke apart again, reforming into the entrance of the cave to Tallwood. Gaster seemed to melt away, falling into your shadow.

"Gaster?" You quickly knelt down to your shadow, patting the top of it. It turned darker, and Gaster's face appeared below the layer of darkness.

"Go on. I'll be right here." Hints of a smile curled through his face before it vanished. You stayed there for a moment, looking at the shadow, before finally standing up and looking at the tall trees. Seemed like something happened while you were gone, as most of the trees had damage from something. You swallowed, and made your way through the underground forest, looking for anything to catch your eyes.

You noticed after a few seconds that you weren't limping, and your foot no longer hurt. That would come in handy, you thought. What were you suppose to even do? Fight them again? You didn't think you would be able to. Never mind the fact your arm is messed up, you were beyond physically tired at the moment. Hopefully you could stall long enough for Gaster to do… whatever he was planning.

You carefully made your way through the trees, aware of the roots and making sure not to trip. After some time walking in the darkness, having only your newly made path to light the area, a gap between trees lit up a few yards ahead. Movement. You quickly made you way over, and gasped when you saw why the plants let up.

Sans was strung up high between two trees, arms on either side of him as if he was crucified. Vines surrounded the area, along with little yellow flowers dotting all along the ground and up the bases of the trees.

"Sans." You whispered, feeling frozen to where you were. The vines came to life, shifting on the trees around you, before suddenly snapping into a wall behind you. The vines holding Sans moved, causing him to scream out before it morphed into laughter.

"AAAHHHHahahaahaAHHAhhhhh…. I knew you would be back, Vertebae."


	40. Monstrous Day

You felt your breath coming out quick and shallow, your stomach tightening and twisting inside you, making you want to vomit.

"F… Flowey-"

"And Sans! Don't forget that he is here too!" Sans' emotionless face tilted slightly as he awkwardly bowed. The vines surrounding him loosened, lowering him to the flower covered ground. "He was so worried about you! You should have seen him, his self-destructiveness almost ended our fun, but don't worry; I protected him!" Flowey's head popped out of Sans' eye socket and smiled at you.

You tried to quickly get aware of your surroundings, noticing plenty of burn marks and holes on the ground that were slightly covered by the small flowers, evidence of whatever happened. You strained to see Sans clearly in the unnatural lighting, and saw that one of his legs was slightly blackened, and a set of arm bones looked partially cracked. His jacket was off and behind him, allowing you to see to the extent that the vines infested his skeleton. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"Nothing to say to us?" Flowey's voice asked as the vines surrounding the area kept in constant motion, and you noticed out of the corner of your eye the vines slowly boxing you into the opening. You swallowed and stepped forward.

"I'm warning you, Flowey, this is your last chance. Get out of him, and leave us alone." Your voice didn't shake, somehow, and made you sound much braver than you actually were. Your hair was standing on end, and you felt like at any second one of the vines would strike you down from behind.

"Golly, that is awfully out of character for you! What happened to the real you? The one that was crying and desperately trying to get away out of fear?" Flowey laughed, making Sans' body throw back his head in same for a couple laughs, before stopping suddenly and tilting his head at you. "Did you get backup, I wonder?"

Your heart skipped a beat, eyes flickering to your feet before resuming eye-to-flower contact. "Ah, so you _did_!" Flowey caught the eye movement, and in the next second you heard the sound of vines twisting past themselves, and something that sounded like tearing. The area lit up brighter than before, startling you to look at the walls he was forming. Dirt was crumbling from the vines, and you could see freshly torn moss and mushrooms hanging from them, evenly lighting the area all around you. You could feel your heart drop and you looked down, seeing just the faintest hints of shadows, but they were thin.

"So, did you have a plan B?" Flowey asked, forcing Sans to slowly step forward. You didn't answer, but you held your ground. Gaster was smart enough to anticipate this… right? He seemed like one of those folks that were incredibly 'extra' in everything they do, so surely the whole 'melting into your shadow' thing was just for dramatic effect, right? _Right?_

Sans' body was close now, but you didn't see any hints of him actually in there. No eye lights, and it didn't look like there was too much resistance when he walked. You heard his scream earlier though, so maybe he was just biding his time.

"I said; this is your last warning." You repeated, the last word having a slight shake to it, making you hit yourself mentally as Flowey chuckled.

"Or what? You'll run away again? Get more help; endanger the other monsters that live here? I don't think so." You felt something starting to creep around your foot, and you could guess it was one of Flowey's vines.

"Or I'll do this." You quickly said, slipping out of the vine before it managed to tighten and running straight at Sans. His body took a step back out of shock, and a vine rushed forward from beside him. You sidestepped just in time, and leapt at him with a yell. Your chest collided with his side hard, sending the two of you tumbling onto the ground as you wrapped your limbs around Sans.

"What are you doing?!" You finally heard hints of Sans' voice bleeding though Flowey's, and you held him tighter when he tried twisting his way out of your grasp. You couldn't get a good grip with your bad hand, but that didn't stop you from trying. You grabbed his shoulder blade and collarbone, and hooked one leg over his hip to try and lodge yourself to him. Vines moved under your grip, twisting and puppeting him to struggle and try pushing you away.

"What do you get when you cross an Elephant and a Rhino?" You shouted, using your weight to roll over so you were on top. You looked into Sans' eye, looking for any hint of his light. It wasn't there. Vines pushed Sans' body up till the two of you rolled over again, and he tried using his arm as leverage to push you away. You saw Flowey's frown growing, his body shifting side to side as he quickly manipulated his vines. His dark eyes narrowed at you, and you quickly kicked the ground and pulled at your hips.

You successfully pinned him once more, until a vine from his ribs shot out and wrapped around your stomach and started squeezing. You coughed, your grip loosening slightly, and more vines appeared around you, one grabbing your bad wrist, one unhooking your leg from his hip and pulling you backwards. You struggled to keep holding on to his collarbone, the only solid grip you managed to have, but you saw it straining, and you felt it crack against your palm. You let go instinctively and immediately felt a vine snake around your neck, pulling you away from Sans. You gasped out, grabbing the vine with your free hand and struggling.

"I don't know, what do you get when you cross an elephant and a rhino?" You could hear the cockiness in Flowey's voice as his voice dominated the question. Despite the attitude, it was clear he was at least a little winded from the wrestling match. He made Sans stand up, holding you in front of him as you gasped for air like a fish. You tried saying something, but you could just barely let out a strained whimper between your gasps. "What was that?" Flowey smiled, and you felt the vine around your neck loosen ever so slightly. Your hand dropped and you inhaled.

" _El'eph-i-no_." You mumbled, yanking out your Soul.

The bright red Soul startled Flowey, causing him to step back and look at the Soul, waiting for something. "Heh. Congrats on getting your Determination back, no wonder you were so stupid in coming back here. Shame it can't actually _do_ -" The red on your Soul started bubbling, cutting off his snarky comments.

You felt sick. You closed your eyes and folded over your stomach as much as you could within the grip of the vines, your breathing becoming irregular as you broke out in a cold sweat. You didn't know what was happening, but one peak at Flowey let you know he didn't know either.

The red of your Soul boiled and burned, slowly turning into an oozing blackness, dripping from the bottom, You could only hope this was Gaster's doing. Your narrowed eyes locked with Flowey's, and you felt your mouth twist into a thin smile.

"I warned you." You pulled back with all your force, and kicked your Soul as hard as you could with your free leg. You felt as if you were slammed into a wall, knocking the wind out of you and you saw stars. The darkness danced around you and you felt yourself dropped onto the mossy ground.

You struggled to inhale, opening your mouth to gasp in air only for your lungs to not want to work, chocking you off. You tried again and again, feeling just the tiniest of pockets of air enter your lungs, but it wasn't enough. Rolling onto your knees and hands, you desperately tried to breathe normally, fear making you focus only on getting oxygen, never mind whatever else was going on around you.

Your lungs finally granted you a proper, if not shallow, breath, and you greedily took in all the air you could, coughing out and gulping in air, over and over. Your ears finally stopped ringing, and you could hear shuffling of feet by you. Turning your head slightly to look up, you could see Sans' body stepping backwards rapidly, hands flailing and trying to brush off the blackness that was planted against the right side of his face.

"-I said get it off!" Flowey screamed, and you could see the vines weaving through Sans' body twisting and working faster than you have ever seen them move, trying to puppet Sans fast enough to get rid of the slime. The dark ooze only spread further onto the hands, and continued to drip down Sans' face and onto his ribs. As you watched, you saw Sans' eye light flare to life, and shrunk when he saw the blackness.

"NonoNonoNONO!" Sans' and Flowey's voice both shouted, though you could hear Sans' voice coming out stronger now. Sans grunted, taking a shuffled step back, snapping some vines that was connecting him to the ground.

"H-hey! Watch what you-!" Flowey started, but was cut off by another pained groan from Sans. He fell to a knee, and a shaky hand was brought in front of him. The blackness seemed to seep into his bones, and the middle of his palm melted away into a hole. Sans looked horrified at it, before arching his back and letting out a yell, smacking his hand over his face. His burning blue eye shone through the hole, flaring brighter as cracks echoed from around the trees.

You remembered those cracks.

Sans let out another yell, and you watched as the bones in his hand grew in size, and you immediately knew what was going on. Flowey seemed confused and horrified, looking at Sans and at you, shifting around in his spot in Sans right eye socket, unable to puppet him properly. Sans slammed a monstrous fist into the ground and yelled out, spine popping and stretching, breaking the inflexible vines that was tied along the inside of him. His skull started breaking in the middle, stretching out.

"Stop that! This isn't supposed to happen! Stop-" Flowey's demands got cut off as he did. An orange light suddenly flared to life in San's right eye, cutting Flowey's stem close to his head, leaving only two leaves attached to him as he fell to the ground.

You didn't waste a moment, quickly getting up and stuffing your red Soul back into you, grabbing Flowey, and running past Sans to his jacket. You tossed Flowey into the jacket, before folding it and tying it into a large knot. Okay. One problem taken care of. Sans' screams turned into a monstrous roar, and you turned to face him just in time to duck out of the way of his tail. The tail crashed into a tree, but thankfully it was big enough to take the hit without falling over.

"Sans!" You shouted, backing away from the dangerous tail. "Gaster, it's okay, I got Flowey now!" You called, not seeing any direct reaction to what you said. Sans looked like he did back on that rainy day again, massive and like a real monster, heavily breathing. His tail whipped around, smacking into another tree. The creaks and pops of his bones became quiet, leaving only the sound of him rumbling left in the air.

"Sans?" You asked, startling when he turned to face you. His eyes were flickering orange, and you could see blackness drooling from his jaw. "H-hey, Gaster, you in there too?" You asked nervously, holding the tied jacket close to you and stepping backwards. The massive bone creature stood up, stepping to face you, and took a step forward. You stepped backwards again, not liking how hungry those eyes looked.

He seemed to hiss something that sounded like laughter, taking another heavy step forward. An orange glowing tongue licked across his teeth, and you saw his hind legs lower as he looked at you. You knew that pose. "Gaster- or Sans- whoever! Remember me?" You felt coldness seep through you as his head lowered, and his rear wiggled slightly.

You yelped and rolled just in time for the monster to go sailing overhead, crashing into a tree behind you. Feeling like the situation wasn't made too much better than it previously had been, you scrambled to grab the jacket and run. You heard the creature shake himself behind you, and heavy footsteps chasing after you. It was silent for a second, and he landed onto a tree in front of your path. You yelled, nearly slipping on the moss in order to change the direction you were running in to avoid colliding with him. A claw swooped down, catching the dirt you were a moment ago.

"Guys, please! It should be over now!" You yelled, hearing his footsteps landing closer with each leap. You managed to jump over a cluster of roots without loosing your footing, and heard the creature stumble behind you. You didn't dare look back, and continued running. Another moment of silence appeared, and you quickly changed your course just in time for him to land on another tree, whining at how well you anticipated his jump. More rumbling came from him, and you could feel him give up his jumping and instead chose to chase you down. You could feel the ground under you shake each time he got closer and closer.

"Can't you-" You felt something slash across your back, and you fell forward, dropping the jacket. Your mind raced, unsure how badly you were cut, but you quickly scrambled to your hands to try and keep fleeing.

You felt your leg pulled back, and you were tossed into the air. A giant clawed hand swat at you, before the creature's maw caught you midair. You closed your eyes, expecting this to be the end of you, but instead you weren't eaten. The teeth were just barely holding onto the tank top. The jaw let go of you, and the claws batted you between them before smacking you face first hard onto the ground. You groaned, and a clawed hand laid itself on top of your legs, successfully keeping you pinned.

Was it playing cat and mouse with you? You wondered, feeling the thing lay down beside you. It's snout pressed against you, huffing against your back a few times, before giving you a long lick. You felt a shiver shook through you as the wetness traveled up your spine, stinging the fresh cuts on your back. You felt your tank top be slightly lifted as he licked again, catching the fabric on his tongue, before it flopped wetly against your skin, earning another shiver.

You didn't know what to make of this, and your mind scrambled to think of any puns you could say. Puns cured the last time Sans was like this, but that was… different. Another lick traveled up your spine, catching the hair at the back of your head, coating it in the black drool. You grumbled, suppressing more shivers as he kept licking.

"What are you guys doing?! I'm not a lollipop!" You finally shouted, not wanting to suffer this fate for all of eternity. The massive monster stopped licking you, and everything was quiet for a moment. You worried that now he was done 'cleaning' you, he'd finally make you into a meal. You carefully turned your head to look at him, seeing his tilted head watching you carefully. His eyes were mostly orange, every time they flickered blue you could see his skull shake ever so slightly.

"…Guys? Can you turn back now?" You asked, testing your luck. He simply stared at you, tilting his head the other way and bringing it close to your face. He let out a huff, before licking up your face. "Aaaaggghhhh!" You loudly groaned, quickly trying to wipe off the drool with your arm. You heard him do the hissing laughter. Ha, very funny guys. You mentally smacked him, but didn't dare do it for real.

His claws left your legs, and you felt lifted by your tank top. You yelped, trying to decide if you should try and flee or just go with what he did. Not having enough time to decide, you were dropped beside a tree and his snout came pushing at your side. He pushed you to roll over, allowing you to sit against the trunk, and he laid his skull in your lap, looking up at you. He looked like he was waiting for something.

"Do… do you need puns to turn back again?" You asked, but he didn't respond. "U-uh. I might be…. Barking up the wrong tree, trying to turn you back like this, you know." You started, a slightly forced cheesy smile making its way onto your mouth, only for the monster's eyebrows to lower. "Sorry, sorry, I know this is a little ruff-" He cut off your pun with a whine, jabbing your ribs with his snout.

"What?" You asked, wrapping a hand around your stomach. "What do you want from me?" He nudged your arm, pushing from under it before settling in your lap again. You hesitated, before carefully putting your hand on top of his skull. He closed his eyes, letting out a low rumble. "Oh." You whispered, slowly rubbing the top of his skull.

You sat there, wondering why the combination of a sadistic scientist and a depressed pun maker made this… oversized dog. There was no way that this was the same creature that chased after you back in the alleyway, the one that destroyed your living room. Or… maybe it was. Maybe it was just 'tamed' now. You stopped petting it for a moment, getting caught in your thoughts. He gave a low whine, wiggling his head. "Sorry." You quickly muttered, getting back to petting him. Whelp, this looked like it was your life now.

After a while of just sitting in your thoughts and petting, the area gradually darkened. There wasn't enough movement for the moss to light up, you figured, allowing the darkness to come. You noticed how sore your body was, and how sluggish your mind started to feel after a while. Not that you could exactly take a nap at the moment, you half considered before shaking those thoughts out of your head. No, you needed to see this through.

The area softly lit up as you bent forward, gently pressing your lips to the top of his skull. "Turn back now, okay? I want to go home." You whispered, and the quiet rumbling coming from the creature stopped short. His eyes opened, looking at you. "Please?" You added, unsure if that was the magic word.

He flinched, giving a short whine as he quickly pulled himself off of you. A loud crack echoed around the trees, and he growled out as he leapt away from where you were. You quickly got up to run after him, seeing him collapse in the next clearing. His bones popped and broke, reshaping him slowly smaller, earning growls and whines with each snap. You watched in wonder as the bones resized, slowly forming back into the short skeleton you knew. The whines turned to yells, and his tail was the last to finish. Sans was left standing on his hands and knees in the clearing, breathing hard before collapsing onto the ground.

You ran over and knelt by him. "Sans?" You asked, slowly rolling him over. His eyes were closed, but his ribs were slowly rising and lowering, thankfully. You looked for damages, noticing that his collarbone still looked cracked, but the other burns and breaks from before the transformation seemed to be better than before somehow, including the holes on his hands. You quickly realized however, you could check his body for damage incredibly easy, as his clothes were nowhere to be seen. You felt blood rush to your face when you noticed, and you couldn't help but feel incredibly silly over that. He was just a skeleton! … But you still averted your eyes.

"I cannot believe you _kicked your own Soul_."

Gaster's voice startled you from behind, and you quickly turned to face him. "W-well… I thought… You know, that was what I was _suppose_ to do." You explained, watching as Gaster's expression quickly turned to amusement.

"I was preparing to form from the drops from your Soul. If you waited ten more seconds, you would have seen that." He chuckled slightly, holding out Sans' tied jacket to you. "But I will admit, you humans do have interesting solutions to problems."

You accepted the jacket, unsure to what to reply that with. "Uh, thank you?" He chuckled, walking around Sans and looking down at him.

"It is good to see that even though all of this happened, he isn't dusted. Thank you." He looked up at you, shocking you with a genuine smile. It felt… odd, coming from him. You gave him a nod. He knelt down, putting a hand on Sans' shoulder, and offering you the other. "Shall we?" He asked, you didn't know exactly what for, but you took his hand. The world shattered into pieces, dancing around the three of you before reforming into Sans' living room.

With a few waves of his hand, Gaster lifted Sans to the couch, and made his way over to it. You followed, watching with interest as he looked over his brother, and looked to get ready to take care of his damages. You audibly shivered, suddenly aware of how cold the air was thanks to your wet tank top and hair.

"Ah, terribly sorry about that." Gaster apologized, noticing you shiver. "I lost what little I had of my self control earlier."

"You were the one licking me?" You asked amused, thinking that he was making a joke.

"I could not help myself. You are quite delicious." He confirmed, looking at you with his glowing orange halos. They had the same hint of hunger as the monstrous creature did earlier. "Perhaps you would allow me a second taste?"

Needles danced across your skin and you fell hard into Sans' bed, your panic quickly dropping when you realized you were no longer in the living room. You heard Gaster's muffled voice chuckle through the door.

"I thought not."


	41. Bath Day

You sat in the bed for a while, thoughts bouncing around aimlessly. What Gaster asked chilled you to the bone, but you couldn't tell if he was joking, or actually… craving you. You shook your thoughts free with a violent shiver, the cold air really getting to you now. You could use a bath. No use surviving all of that if you were going to let yourself get frostbite due to some spit.

Slipping off of the bed, you grabbed some comfortable pajamas, robe, and a towel from the dresser. You turned to face the door out of Sans' room, but you almost didn't want to walk past Gaster. He might be working on Sans' wounds and you'd hate to disrupt him, you rationalized. It totally wasn't because of that comment of his. Totally.

"Hmmm…" You tapped your fingers on your supplies, eyebrows lowering. Well, you did get into this room by teleporting… you should be able to teleport yourself out. You swallowed, wiggling your shoulders to loosen them up, and closed your eyes. Visualizing the bathhouse behind Fuku's, you focused, and took a step. The air chilled around you for a moment and… nothing. You opened your eyes to see that you were one step closer to the door.

"Of course it couldn't be that simple." You mumbled, rolling your eyes at yourself. Gaster and Sans had these powers all their lives, so of course it would come easier to them. Maybe you need to pin exactly to where you planned on going? You tried again, this time focusing on exactly where you would be inside of the bathhouse. Just a little inside of the doorway, enough to see the way to the bath and next to the stalls. You slowly lifted your leg and took a step…

And you were another step closer to the door. You sighed, feeling disheartened by the lack of awesome teleporting skills. Gaster said you teleported yourself, but you've only ever done it when either he or Sans were close, and it could very well just be their powers spilling onto you. You bit the inside of your cheek, making you focus again. One more try, you convinced yourself. Maybe you needed to be scared? Gaster scared you into teleporting at least twice now, you think, and figured it was worth the shot.

You held tightly onto your bath supplies and closed your eyes, focusing your mind. Bathhouse. Scared. You got this. You struggled to think of something scary, the first thought being a carpeted kitchen. You shook your head. "This isn't the time for shitposting." You muttered, clearing your head to try again. Scary… Darkness is scary. You focused on that, visualizing being in a dark room, a single light above you.

The form of Gaster stepped out of the shadows, slowly looking down at you as if just becoming aware of your presence. His smile broke, twisting upwards unnaturally as he towered over you, bringing a hand to your chin. His hand suddenly changed positions, grabbing you roughly by your jaw and forcing you to look into his eyes. They burned with orange magic, slowly drawing you in as he chuckled. Another hand hovered over your chest, and you felt your Soul tighten.

 _"Just a taste."_

You yelped, snapping your eyes open just in time for you to land hard on the purple tiled floor, the already vanishing memory of needles scratching along your skin. You groaned, rubbing you rear as you looked around, realizing you were in the basement lab. Well… that was a start! Looks like you could teleport! Just… not how the brothers could. You scratched at your head, wondering how in the world your imagination managed to conjure up such an… eerie version of Gaster so quickly, and how it actually successfully scared you as well. Most of the time when you try and imagine things it isn't nearly as simple as… closing your eyes like that.

Taking a deep breath to put the imagination behind you, you stood up and gathered your bath supplies, and pushed open the door. Thankfully it wasn't locked, so you didn't have to worry about what would have happened if it were. Who knew how long it would have been before Gaster or Sans would have noticed you gone and to realize you locked yourself up? You smiled at the thought of the conversation that would follow. Maybe they could give you tips on how to teleport with more control? What if teleportation wasn't the only thing you would be able to do? You felt a rush of giddiness flood through you as you realized you must be the first human to have any magic powers. Who cares if you couldn't control it yet? You were basically the protagonist of a story now!

Your smile grew as you looked up at the sky, seeing hints of the cave roof overhead. Snow fell down gracefully around you, quickly building up on your supplies in your arms. You shivered, realizing your mistake of not bringing a jacket when you teleported too late. It wasn't particularly cold out, in fact it felt almost the same temperature inside the house as it did outside, but you wanted to quickly warm up all the same. You hurriedly made your way through the winter wonderland, the trail you left behind you virtually invisible thanks to the falling snow. The small bathhouse came into view, and your rushed inside, relieved to find it already warm. Someone must have been here not too long ago.

It wasn't a particularly impressive bathhouse, much smaller than the ones you've seen in anime, but to be fair you've never seen one in real life other than this one. It had two stalls for toilets, a shower, and a bath that looked more like a five person hot tub than anything else. With how you usually used it, it might as well be a hot tub. You pulled the curtain for the shower area and quickly stripped out of your nearly frozen clothes, immediately turning the water close to its hottest setting.

A few moments into the shower, your shoulder stung. You hissed between your teeth, grabbing at it and struggling to see what was going on with it. The darkness in the wound seemed to thin in the hot water, slowly running down your body and leaving what looked like a serious burn inside the impression. You didn't know when the orange stitches vanished, but in their place were thin scars of where they use to be. The entire thing looked what you pictured a bullet scar to look like, and you strained your neck to see if the back looked the same. Far as you could tell, yep. The stinging stopped, and you stood in the shower looking at it for a while. You wondered if that meant it was done treating you, and tried to make a fist with your left hand. Unfortunately you were in the same situation you were earlier, where it seemed you just couldn't bring your hand to make any sort of tight grip. You could hold things easily enough with the bad hand, as long as they weren't heavy at least. At least it was just your left hand. You could make due with keeping all the grip important things to your right hand.

Thankfully showering was not one of those grip important tasks, and you continued cleaning yourself normally. You started thinking how strange it was most monsters didn't need to clean themselves. Back when Fuku talked about humans having 'special needs' you thought she meant just using the bathroom, not cleaning as well. Sans showed off this point a while ago to you. He demonstrated how he could either force his magic to make himself presentable, or simply wait it out. You were against sleeping with someone who wasn't cleaned of the dirt from Hotland, but somehow he convinced you, and come morning light the dirt was nowhere to be seen on him. Unfortunately you were not as lucky, and you still needed a bath after the rest. Ugh, you loved how you could make him laugh sometimes, but you really needed to work on how gullible you could be with him.

After the not-so-quick shower, you hopped into the bath, sinking low into the steaming water. It was quiet, but you really could use the quiet moment after everything that happened. You've had a pretty crazy past few days, but you laughed at that thought. "When don't I have crazy days?" You asked yourself, watching the water in front of your face ripple lightly when you spoke. The door to the bathhouse creaked open, startling you out of your thoughts. You quickly got up and sat on the edge of the bath, wrapping the towel around you.

"Oh, sorry." Fuku's flaming green head peaked in, noticing you. "I was just coming back here to see if there was anything to clean." She said in her soft crackling voice. You nodded, and she let herself in. This wasn't the first time you two encountered each other at the bathhouse, so you relaxed slightly. "Oh! You're Sans' human!" She noticed, apparently having a slightly harder time identifying people when their hair was wet. "I was worried about you!"

"You were?" You asked, surprised. All of the chaos that happened was away from any other monsters, and your mind scrambled to figure out what she would be worried over you for.

"Last night I walked past his house and saw what looked like blood in the snow that led to a locked door. I tried knocking, but no one answered. I even knocked this morning but neither of you seemed to be home." She explained, and you could see that she really was worried about your wellbeing.

"Right… That. You don't have to worry about that!" You quickly waved your hand to try and comfort her. "We… er, well… I can't really explain anything, but we are fine now!" You gave her a smile, and she seemed unsure.

"...If you say so." She walked around the room and picked up a towel that was left on the floor behind you. You kept quiet, letting your feet soak in the hot bath as she cleaned up the area. She let out a small gasp, and you heard the towel fall to the ground. "O-oh! Human, what happened to your back?!" She asked, her voice losing shape as her flames grew more wild.

"What?" You turned to face her, and tried to angle yourself to see your back to no success. You used your free hand to brush along your back, feeling the massive scratches. They felt like they had already scarred over. "I-I… It's nothing!" You quickly stammered, unable to think of some excuse. Fuku came close and grabbed your hand. Her hands didn't burn you, much to your surprise. They just felt warm.

"If there is anything you need, anything at all, just let me know, okay?" She said, and you could see her eyes looking carefully at you. You felt shocked, but quickly nodded. "I'm here for you humans, even if it's dangerous. If you ever need help but can't say so, just say something with 'red' in it, and I'll take care of you!" She kept holding your hand and intensely looking at you, waiting for you to confirm any of the thoughts she had.

"I-I'm fine, really. Thank you for worrying, Fuku, but I'm not in any danger." You said, trying your best not to sound like you were just saying that for her sake. You didn't think you were really lying anymore either. The danger was done with, not like she could've helped with it anyway. You saw her eyes drift to your shoulder, widening slightly. You quickly leaned your head to draw her attention back to your face. "It's good to know you are here for we humans though, thank you." You smiled at her, and she kept carefully watching your face, looking for any hints of the opposite of what you were saying. Her shoulders relaxed and she finally let go of your hand, her warmth still lingering on it.

"Alright… Can I expect you and Sans tomorrow for some tea?" She asked, standing up and picking up the towel again.

"I'll try my best to. Sans might not make it… He's been a little, uh, tied up lately." You excused, figuring that was as close to the truth you could go. Fuku nodded.

"I'll see you then." She went to the door and looked back at you, waiting one last time to let you say something, before finally heading out. You sighed, and sunk back into the hot water. It really was nice that someone was looking out for humans down here. You doubted there were any places up top that gave the same comfort to monsters. Fuck, Fuku was just a sweetheart in general. She opened up an entire bathhouse just because she knew humans might need it. That's something monsters would never need themselves, yet here she is taking the extra step to make sure humans were comfortable.

After thinking in the hot water long enough to get pruney fingers, you finally figured it was time to get back to Sans and Gaster. You dried yourself the best you could, slipped on clean cloths, and put on your robe. You considered trying to teleport again, but you didn't want to risk sending yourself someplace you could get dirty again. Or worse. You inhaled, enjoying the steamy warmth one last time, and exited the bathhouse. Trying to keep as much warmth with you as you could, you rushed back to Sans' place, stomping up the stairs to knock snow off your shoes. You slipped inside, closing the door tightly behind you.

"Ah, there you are." Gaster's voice sent a chill up your spine as much as the cold room did. You kicked off your shoes and made your way to the thermostat, upping the temperature some to be more appropriate for you.

"Miss me? I felt like I needed a bath." You rubbed your arms, trying to rub the chicken skin away as you looked at the number on the screen. You turned and looked at Gaster, seeing him sitting on the small nightstand beside the couch, one leg crossed over the other, book in hand. Sans was still passed out on the couch with a blanket tossed on him, but you could see his collarbone had a small strip of blackness where you cracked it.

"Of course, I forget that is something you humans require." He nodded, looking like he was about to return his attention to the book, before his eyes jumped back to you. "I do not recall you leaving earlier." It wasn't a question.

"Haha yeahhhh… I teleported!" You awkwardly held up your hands, unsure of yourself. "Didn't get to where I wanted, but I made it to the lab at least." As you explained you could see Gaster's eyebrow rising slightly, interested.

"Fascinating." He said to himself. He seemed to consider something before closing the book with a snap. He put it to the side, and pushed himself up to stand. "My brother may be unconscious for quite a while yet. Perhaps we could-" The light of the room became blocked out as he suddenly towered in front of you. "- do some _tests_."

"WHOA-" Your hands shot out, pushing him a step back. "Listen, pal, buddy. You are like at a solid ten right now, I need you to bring that all the way down to a three for me." You blurted, feeling your hair rise on end from the sudden closeness of the tall monster.

Gaster's eye halos drifted down, looking at your hands, which were still pressed against his chest. You quickly pulled them back, bringing them close to your own. His halos rose back to your face, a small smile slipping onto his face. He took a step back, bowing slightly but keeping his eyes on you. "My apologies, I did not mean to be so forward. It has been terribly long since I have had the chance to observe something as… _fascinating_ , as you." The way he said 'fascinating' made you think that perhaps scientists used that word to describe lewd acts.

You swallowed, your nervousness bubbling up. "H-haha… Right, understandable, since you were all 'trapped in the void' and stuff." You swallowed again, hoping that wasn't exactly a touchy subject for him. He gave you a look that you associated with the phrase 'are you serious right now?' "I-I mean, I'm not that fascinating compared to other humans. Like, I can personally guarantee that The Rock is a hundred times more interesting than I am." You rambled on, failing spectacularly to defuse the subject.

"Perhaps, but as I do not know this Rock, it is highly irrelevant to me." Gaster looked down at you, disinterest taking over the features of his face. "Nevertheless, you are a human, and at that a human with magic. That alone, peaks my interest. However if you do not wish to partake in my tests, I will not force you. An unwilling subject- while wielding fascinating results, rarely give you the results you are looking for." He clarified curtly, before turning and walking towards the kitchen.

You felt your shoulders relax as he walked away, your heart still pounding hard in your chest. You shook your head and walked over to the couch, kneeling by Sans. He didn't seem to be dreaming, but you figured with all that had happened that was a good thing. You rubbed his skull with his hand, seeing what little tension he had on his face fade away instantly.

"If you don't mind me asking-" You yelped as Gaster appeared back on the nightstand, pulling at a teabag in a small mug. "What originally drew you to my brother?" He continued to ask casually. You had a slight sense of déjà vu, but you ignored it and tried to calm down your racing heart.

"Well… He was nice." You started off, unsure really how to describe it. Trying to think back to meeting him was difficult, despite it being not a terribly long time ago. "He was worried over me, even though I just met him. Then we started hanging out all of the time…" You looked up to see Gaster looking at you with a face of pure boredom.

"That is awfully dull, dear." He said plainly, taking a sip of his tea. "Are you sure you are not simply addicted to the danger that follows the two of you around?" His eyes flashed at the question. You felt a little confused at that, and looked back to Sans.

"I'm not asking for the danger, if that is what you mean." You said, continuing to rub Sans' skull. "Every relationship can use a little excitement. Ours just tends to be a little more life-threatening and frequent than others. That's all." You stated. Gaster was quiet for a while before setting his tea down.

"My brother seems to have good taste after all." His statement caught you off guard. "I do believe I have to apologize for our first interactions. I called you fragile and your Soul weak. The fact you are still standing here is proof enough to the contrary."

"I'm used to it." You shrugged, but you appreciated the apology. You gave Sans one last rub on his skull before sitting down on the floor and leaning against the couch, not wanting to leave Sans in case he woke up. You pulled your laptop from below, opening it up to a website to watch the latest updates of a show. Looks like there was another leak, giving you plenty of episodes to watch. You loaded up the first of the leaks, feeling just a slight pang of guilt as you did so.

You heard Gaster shift his weight, and when you looked over your shoulder you could see him leaning to watch it as well, book forgotten. Your thoughts conflicted for a moment, before you scooted over and patted the floor. It took him a moment to understand the gesture, but he quickly lowered himself and sat beside you, being sure to keep a few inches distance.

He seemed highly intrigued with the show, despite jumping in the middle of a season. They were intense episodes that explained themselves rather well at least, so you didn't have to worry about needing to explain anything to Gaster. You doubted you would be able to explain this show quickly anyway, there was so many levels of stories entwined into it.

After watching a couple episodes quietly, the camera panned over a scene with flowers in it. You suddenly snapped your laptop shut, eyes wide.

"What is it?" Gaster asked, curious about your reaction.

Your eyes drifted to the blue jacket that was tied up a few feet away on the floor.

"I forgot about Flowey…"


	42. Defend Day

The two of you stared at the jacket for a while, your mind rushing to figure out how to deal with Flowey.

"I could take him to Hotland, if you are so concerned." Gaster spoke up, noticing you stalling. "He is most likely in a weakened state. All it would take is a drop over lava-"

"We aren't killing him." You interrupted, slowly bringing your feet under you.

"I am sorry, what? Why ever not? Has he not caused you a great deal of pain? If I remember correctly, he is the reason your Soul is so damaged in the first place." Gaster's voice was thick with disbelief.

"I said; we aren't killing him." You repeated walking towards the jacket. Gaster appeared in front of you, blocking out the light as he looked down at you with piercing cold eyes.

"Do explain why we would not kill the being that _infested_ my brother like a weed, puppeting him around like he was some play thing. Please, do tell me your excuse for keeping the _abomination_ alive when it would not grant us the same liberty." His flowing voice was sharp, eyes flashing brighter each sentence.

" _Because I said so_." You growled back at the same tone, jabbing a finger at Gaster's chest. "I'm not going to say anything stupid like ' _if we kill him then we are just as bad as him_ ' bullshit." Your voice rose to be a mocking stereotypical hero for the line before dropping back to normal. "We aren't killing him because _I don't kill_ , and I'm _not_ going to allow you to kill him either." You jabbed your finger at him again, feeling burning anger fill your chest.

He seemed taken aback at how determined you were to let Flowey live, and took a step backwards, hand on his chest where you jabbed him. He quickly recovered, frowning at you with narrowed eyes. "When it turns against you once more, do not expect me to come running to your rescue, human."

"I didn't ask for you to." You stepped around Gaster and knelt by the jacket, slowly untying the sleeves. You could hear small sounds coming from the jacket, and when you finally unfolded it completely you saw Flowey looking wide-eyed at you, massive tears running down his face. His face looked more three-dimensional than usual, looking almost like Toriel's.

He was sobbing quietly, looking utterly terrified of what you were going to do. You noticed most of his petals were in rough shape, folded and torn from the rough treatment inside the jacket. You carefully slipped your hands under him, and brought him to the kitchen.

"You okay?" You asked softly, trying to mask the leftover anger you had. He looked shocked, cutting his sobbing short.

"W-w-what?"

"Are you okay? You look damaged, and your stem was cut pretty high. Are you going to survive?" You asked again, holding him with one hand as you grabbed a Mason jar from the cupboards with the other.

"You… y-you really aren't gonna k-kill me?" He asked, his eyes looking back to the living room, clearly having heard the conversation. You shook your head, pouring water from the fridge into the jar to have a couple centimeters.

"No, I'm not." You said clearly, carefully dropping Flowey into the Mason jar. It was a little big for him, but it seemed to do the job well enough. "You're just a kid. A really, _really_ messed up kid, but I'm not about to kill you. Now answer my question, are you going to live?"

"Y-yeah… It'll take some time to regenerate roots, but…" He avoided eye contact, looking down as you brought him to the counter and set his jar down. "After everything that happened, you still-"

"I don't get to decide your punishment." You cut him off, turning his jar around and pushing it to the corner. "I'm not the one you nearly killed- well I am… I mean, ack, just stay in the corner and think about what you've done. Sans gets the final word for your punishment, but... I won't let him kill you." You didn't know why you are trying to comfort him, he nearly kill both you and Sans, but you couldn't bring yourself to treat him less than human.

"T… thank you." He said quietly.

"You're welcome." You said flatly, taking a breath. Flowey turned to look at you a moment before settling in the jar, accepting the 'stand in the corner' punishment. You walked out of the kitchen and sat back to where you were before, Gaster already sitting where he was earlier. He was looking perplexed at his chest, hand close to it.

"Did I jab too hard?" You asked. Your mood has been successfully soured of its earlier state, but you pulled up your laptop again. Gaster looked at you confused for a moment, before lowering his hand.

"Not at all. You… well, never mind. It is not important." He adjusted his position, looking at your screen as you restarted the page. You could feel his eyes on you every so often, but you ignored it and let the show run its magic.

It was strange watching the show with Gaster. Every time you glanced over you saw him looking like he was studying it, absorbing every frame possible. Honestly you were still surprised he wasn't asking any questions about the show. He seemed to accept the strange and alien characters without a thought, though you suppose it was more of a comedic last couple episodes. Every time you heard his low chuckle it threw you off guard, but you were glad he was enjoying it at least.

As you were loading up the final episode, you heard Sans move behind you. You looked to see him uncomfortably shifting around, before suddenly sitting bolt upright.

"NO!" He shouted, freezing as reality started to sink in. You could see him sweating, his blue eye flaming from whatever last second dream he seemed to have had. He took a heavy breath, grabbing the back of the couch with a hand to keep himself upright. The blue flame flickered, slowly fading away as he brought a hand to his head and letting out a quiet groan.

"Headache?" You asked, startling him to look at you. His eye lights were fuzzier than usual, seeming to have a hard time focusing. When they finally sharpened you could see him relax ever so slightly, the worried frown of his replaced by a more confused one as he looked at you. Gaster turned to look at him, and the movement caught Sans' eyes.

"W-What is he doing _out_!?" He yelled, recoiling and trying to stand. In his frantic flailing he ended up falling off of the back of the couch with a heavy thud. Before you could even lift yourself to check on him, he was already standing again, keeping the couch between him and Gaster.

"That is one way of saying thank you, I suppose." Gaster said in an unimpressed voice.

"Sans, it's cool, he's on our side now." You quickly phrased. "He helped you-"

" _Helped_?" Sans' voice rose an octave at that notion. "Is that what he told you? Because I remember getting my body hijacked not once, but _twice_ in a row!" You saw him change his stance to a defensive one, as if he expected a fight to erupt. You quickly stood. "Do you even know what that is _like_? Let me tell you, it does not feel anything like _helping_."

"Sans, calm down. I'm sorry, I couldn't think of anything else to do-"

"Quiet down, dear." Gaster interrupted you, silently standing as well. "Go on, Brother. Continue telling your human how it was wrong to ask for my help when they were fatally wounded. How they should have let you be puppeted for the rest of your life by the weed, and let themselves die at your feet." His cold voice held back no punches, acting like a slap to the face for Sans.

"I… I didn't mean-" Sans' anger immediately faltered, and his words stumbled.

"No, but that is what you were saying." Gaster rested a hand on your shoulder, narrowing his eyes at Sans. "You owe this human your life yet again, brother. Act like it." You could feel his grip on you tighten ever so slightly. Sans immediately averted his eyes.

"Sorry…" Sans started, continuing to look at the ground.

"No, it's okay." You stepped out from under Gaster's hand till you were in front of Sans. "We all had a stressful… however long this all was." You swallowed, gently bringing your hands to Sans' arms. He recoiled slightly at the touch, but relaxed and slowly let you hold him. "Are you okay though? How are you feeling?" You asked softly.

"Like… I have the worst hangover in my life." Sans groaned slightly, bringing a hand to his head. "I can't exactly explain it. It feels like a ringing in my skull."

"That may be magic damage from the transformation." Gaster offered, sitting down and crossing one leg over the other gracefully. "It should eventually fix itself. Think of it like you listened to music too loudly one night, and now you hear noise even in a silent room." He explained in layman's terms, looking at you as he did so.

"Except it wasn't a song rattling my bones, just you." Sans sourly added, looking at Gaster.

"Oh my apologies, should I fetch you a ladder to help you get over it, brother?" You could practically season food with the salt in his voice. "Like your human said, it was the best we could do in such short notice." Gaster let out a slightly exaggerated sigh, turning his attention nonchalantly to his hands. That phrase seemed draw Sans' attention.

"So… It really is you then, Dings." Sans asked, seeming to take the time to look more at Gaster's appearance.

"Of course it is me, who else would I be?" Gaster rolled his eyes, tracing the hole of his palm with a finger.

"I meant… You look different. That night when you first showed up, you seemed so unlike yourself that I wasn't sure that it was you or… what left of you, spit up by the Void." Sans explained, and you could see Gaster frown at that, but continued to play with his hand like how humans played with their nails. No wonder Sans wasn't exactly acting 'brotherly' to Gaster, you figured. You had assumed his relationship with Papyrus would be the type of brotherly love he would have had for his other brother as well, but your first night down here was proof enough to the contrary.

"My appearance has changed, yes. Consequences of my time in the Void, I am sure. However it is still me, and here I am, attempting to live alongside my little brother once more." He glanced towards Sans. "My memory of your time on the surface is fuzzy at best, but if I recall properly, you are living with the human." His halos drifted towards you. "It would be terribly difficult for me to adjust to living on the surface alone. You humans are unnecessarily complex creatures with strange habits. Perhaps you would allow me time to observe your lifestyle within your home until I could properly adjust my life to fit the surface?"

You blinked at the excessive vocabulary that could have simply translated to 'can I crash at your place for a while?' "I mean, sure. It's not like you have anywhere else you can go…" You accepted casually before glancing at Sans. Even though it was your place, Sans was also living with you now. He hesitantly shrugged, seeming slightly against the idea but not exactly able to say no to Gaster.

"You'll have to explain yourself to Papyrus, but I think the place is big enough for the four of us." Sans said.

" _Five_." Gaster corrected. You felt your eyebrows lower, confused. You struggled to do basic math. _You, Papyrus, Gaster, Sans… and-_ "My apologies." Gaster looked at you, seeing your confused face. "I had assumed the weed would be coming with us."

Your eyes widened, realizing you didn't tell Sans about Flowey yet. The air in the room drastically changed, and Sans stiffened under your hands. When you looked to face him you saw his eyes lights were gone, leaving a hollow stare. You felt him shake ever so slightly.

"Where is he?" He asked, voice becoming low.

"Don't worry, he won't be causing any more trouble." You quickly started, trying to defuse Sans' anger as quickly as possible. Your mind raced, trying to choose the best words to explain the situation to him. You stepped slightly closer to him, trying to make it clear you were on his side. "I managed to-"

"In the kitchen." Gaster offered over your voice, interrupting any cushion you were trying to form. Sans immediately turned to rush into the next room, pulling out of your hands.

"Sans wait!" You tried grabbing him only for him to teleport a couple inches out of your grip.

"He needs to _pay_."

"Sans! I know you are angry but please!" You quickly darted after him to the kitchen to see Sans look around quickly before finally seeing the Mason jar. Flowey was tucked down, trying to hide behind the glass. Sans reached for the jar and you quickly snagged it before him, holding it behind your back.

"Not now, Vertebae. Give him here." Sans held out a hand to you, looking like he was struggling to hold back his magic. His voice was thick with anger, but his eyes were empty except for the spark of blue every other second.

"Not until I know your intentions with him." You quickly said, squaring your shoulders, heart beating just a little too quickly.

"I'm only going to burn him to a crisp, then you can have him right _back_." Sans said the last word through ground teeth, blue eye flaring to life. You took a step back, shaking your head. "Would you prefer the garbage disposal? Or I can also stomp _really hard_ if that's what you want. Trust me, I've done it before _plenty_ of times." He took a step forward, urging his open hand towards you more.

"We aren't killing him." You quickly said, taking another half step back. Sans' open hand shook a moment, snapping into a fist as his magic burst.

"Like _hell_ we aren't." He growled, lifting the fist. The Mason jar in your hands suddenly flew to the ceiling, crashing and shattering the glass above you. You shrieked, covering your head to protect yourself from the glass. Flowey landed hard on the ground with a gasp, and blue magic surrounded him, lifting him off of the ground. " _There you are_." Sans dark voice scared you.

You leaped forward to grab Flowey, screaming as your bare foot stepped on the fresh glass, making you flinch and fall hard on the tiled floor. Thankfully you didn't land on any more glass, and held Flowey tight against your chest. You ground your teeth, trying to hold back tears from the pain.

"Vert- What are you doing?!" Sans asked, infuriated. "Just give him to me already, he deserves everything he has coming!" You saw him lean down towards you, and you curled even tighter around Flowey.

"No! This isn't you! We aren't killing him!" You immediately tried to summon your teleporting powers, thinking maybe you could get someplace fast enough to save Flowey. _Waterfall. Hotland. Ruins. Anywhere_. You felt the start of needles prickling at your skin-

" _Brother_."

Gaster's chilling voice caused the two of you to instantly freeze. He was standing in the entry of the kitchen, looking almost winded. He was looking at the broken glass, then at your feet, before finally settling on Sans. His expression changed from concern, to disappointment. "Your human is hurt. Perhaps it would be wise to take care of that before handling your _revenge_." He coldly said, motioning with his hands and lifting you off of the ground. You yelped, not expecting the floating, but made sure to keep Flowey close as the orange magic carried you to the couch.

"What?" Sans' eyes seemed confused before they widened, seeing the spots of blood on the ground, and he quickly stepped to follow you. Gaster held up a hand, shoving Sans back a step. "I think it would be best if you took care of the glass first." He lifted his chin, giving Sans a cold look before walking next to you. You saw him eye Flowey, but you held the flower tighter. He tilted his head ever so slightly before accepting it, turning his attention to your foot as he gently lowered you down, propping your feet on the arm of the couch.

Gaster knelt down and made small motions with his fingers, and you could feel small shards being pulled out one by one out of your foot without any pain. It was going fine until his body suddenly dipped forward, causing a piece of glass to cut further into you. You yelped and he quickly recovered, pulling it out without any more stinging. "My apologies." He looked closely to make sure that there wasn't more, using the back of his wrist to wipe at his forehead.

"You're sweating." You noticed. It wasn't like he was part of the fight.

"It's nothing." He said simply, moving a hand towards the kitchen. A small hand towel quickly floated across the room and into his hand, and he quietly dabbed at your foot to clear it from blood. Seeming satisfied, he motioned once more at your foot, and you felt something wet stick itself to you, you assumed it was some of his tar. "There we go." He said plainly, standing once again. "Keep off your foot for a few hours and it will be good as new." He said in the same tone a doctor would prescribe medication in.

You nodded, sitting up against the far armrest and pulling your feet close to you, opening up the couch for him. Gaster took the other armrest seat, leaning back and closing his eyes. Maybe he used too much magic, you figured. You looked up to see Sans standing at the entrance of the kitchen, looking concerned but avoiding eye contact with you. Your mouth opened to say something, but you shut it and looked away. Flowey looked up at you still seeming scared, but thankful that you were protecting him. You adjusted your seat and tucked him between your elbow and stomach towards the armrest, granting him the most protection you could offer with the least amount of effort and potential squeezing.

"Are… you okay?" Sans finally broke the tense quiet in the air, still standing in his spot. You glanced towards him briefly, quickly looking back towards the floor in front of you.

"Yep." You swallowed, your mind already replaying how he looked at you a few minutes ago. It was terrifying, knowing he was capable of so much anger. Sure, you doubted you would be any better in that situation, but… the way he _looked_ at you-

"Vertebae, listen-" He stepped towards you, and you pulled your knees closer.

" _We aren't killing him._ " You stressed, aggressively staring at a stain on the floor in front of you.

"No, I understand that now." Sans walked in front of you, cutting off your view of the stain. "I… I'm sorry. I'm _so_ sorry. I let my anger get between us and hurt you, I never meant for that." You saw the tip of one of his fingers was slightly red, like he touched the blood in the kitchen before cleaning it up properly. You looked up slowly, seeing his concerned eyes watching you. At the eye contact he averted his lights, looking at Flowey. "I don't understand why you would ever want to defend him, of all creatures… But I'm not going to let you get hurt because of my anger." His eyes met with yours again, and you held the gaze for a moment before sighing and looking away.

"…Sit down, Sans." You adjusted your feet to make sure there was enough room on the couch. He paused a moment, slowly turning and sitting on the cushion between you and Gaster. He waited for you to say something, and you could see his hands clench and relax over and over out of stress. "Grab my laptop and hit play."

"What?" He seemed confused, but he slowly grabbed the laptop anyway.

"I'm not sure what to say right now, so I'm just going to finish my show and say something when the episode is done." You said, getting comfortable in the seat. You saw Sans looking at you questionably from the corner of your eye.

"Are you being serious, or-"

"Dead serious. Unless you really want to continue talking this moment; I personally would like to be in a better mood if I'm being honest here."

"Fair enough." Sans accepted your form of advanced procrastination, and hit play on the last episode.


	43. Test Day

"…I feel like I missed something." Sans said, closing the tab of the show after the credits finally finished flashing across the screen.

"Oh yeah, a lot happened the past few episodes. They found out some history, someone they thought was a friend ended up as an enemy, one of them ended up getting kidnapped, others that they thought were enemies ended up being cool allies… but they saved each other and everything is okay again." You summed up quickly, tapping away the plot points on your fingers. Sans let out a low chuckle.

"Sounds familiar." He said quietly, reclining again in the couch.

"Most stories follow that type of chaos, I suppose…" You added, shrugging as you put away the laptop.

"Not exactly what I meant." Sans muttered offhandedly. You were going to ask him what exactly _did_ he mean, but Flowey looking up at you got your attention.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! You must be drying out!" You suddenly realized that he hasn't been in any water the entire episode. You adjusted your position and started lifting yourself out of your seat, but before your feet made contact with the ground you felt shoved back into the couch. You let out a slight "ooph!" and looked down to see a slight orange glow around your chest. You looked at Gaster, seeing him looking at you with one orange eye open, two fingers loosely pointed at the couch. The eye turned white and the magic lifted off of you as he dropped his hand.

"I told you to stay off of your foot. Do not disobey orders from a doctor." You couldn't tell if it was a threat, or if he was just coldly instructing you.

"He doesn't give warnings twice." Sans mentioned. He sighed, looking at Flowey, then at Gaster, then at you. "I guess I'll grab something for… him." He hesitated, waiting to see if Gaster was going to do something first, but stood and walked to the kitchen.

"Thank you, Sans." You said, listening to his actions in the next room. A cupboard opened and a slight 'tink' of glasses bumping into each other quietly echoed from the kitchen, and you heard the faucet turn on for a moment before quickly turning off again. A slight creak of another cupboard door opening caught your attention. "Make sure not to add anything else to the water, please! No sugar or… anything else." There was a moment of silence before you heard a quiet sigh, the door thumped shut again. Sans walked out with a small purple glass cup, small bit of water sitting at the bottom, and he set it on the nightstand beside you. "Thank you." You said again, resting your hand on his arm. He glanced at Flowey quickly, before sitting down back where he was originally.

"Yeah. No problem." He said flatly, though you could tell he was restraining himself whenever he got close to Flowey. That was understandable. You carefully dropped Flowey into the cup, adjusting his leaves like one would adjust a normal flower in a vase before you remembered he was a living thing, and you were essentially flattening out his 'arms' to better even the symmetry. You were surprised that he didn't voice the irritation that you saw rapidly growing on his face. You quickly let go and push the cup to be not as close to the edge as it was.

"Sans… can I trust you?" You asked, turning the cup slightly, getting it nearly exactly in the center of the nightstand.

"What? Of course you can." Sans seemed shocked at the question, concerned that he done something to lose your trust in the first place.

"I mean, with him. Can I trust you not to kill him when my back is turned?" You turn to him and clarify, gingerly resting a hand on his leg. "I would rather not need to carry him everywhere I go, but I need to know you won't try to get revenge. I know… Well… I know that I won't understand exactly what he put you through, but…" You didn't know how to continue. Sans sighed, putting his hand on top of yours.

"Look, I'm not going to kill him as long as you say not to. Doesn't mean I'm going to like it, but you have my word." He answered, glancing back at Flowey with a slight frown. A moment of silence followed, and Gaster stood up, stretching slightly.

"Well, this these events have turned quite… dull. If you need me, I will be in my lab." He turned towards the door, but you spoke up quickly.

"Oh, Gaster!"

"Hmm?" His eye halos drifted over to you, curious.

"I was thinking- when we were watching the show I mean- how I kinda shut down your earlier request to do tests on me-"

"He asked _what_ now?" Sans asked, eyes widening and turning to Gaster. You ignored the outburst and continued talking.

"And I suppose I didn't even ask what… kind of tests?" You half asked. You could see the slightest curl at the edges of his mouth. "I mean, back on the surface I heard there are a few human doctors studying volunteer monsters, Alphys kinda works with them, but like, you are a doctor yourself so… I feel like that would be a good fit for you once we get back up there. So… I would be okay if you wanted to bring some of your own discoveries to them. " You weren't usually a job matcher type of person, but if he was going to live on the surface he would need a good job. Gaster seemed to appreciate the information.

"You need to keep off your foot a little while longer yet, so don't worry, there would be no physicals yet. I would just be checking your vitals, perhaps take a blood sample or two." He informed, waiting for you to make a sign if you were going to volunteer or not.

"You can't be serious." Sans gave you a look, as if questioning your sanity of considering being tested on _willingly_.

"I mean, yeah. Who knows what he'll find." You said to Sans, wondering why he was so against you getting studied by anyone. Gaster's tests didn't sound that all invasive. "Who knows, maybe he'll discover something cool." You shrug at Sans before nodding towards Gaster. "That sounds fine with me."

"Splendid." He quickly stepped over to you with his lanky legs and rested a hand on your shoulder. He offered the other one to Sans, who sighed before grabbing the hand.

"Be good." You quickly turned and told Flowey before the world shattered around the three of you, scrambling and changing colors until the lab built itself around you. You were sitting on the counter, Sans beside you. Gaster stepped to the side to allow Sans to move, and he quickly got off and went to the other side of the room.

"I'm just… going to sit over here." He pressed his back against the wall and slid down till he was sitting on the floor. He still seemed suspicious of Gaster's intentions, but allowed you to do what you wanted.

"Of course." Gaster wasted no time, quickly digging out beakers that were in the drawers, along with different utensils that you were sure had a fancy names but didn't know any of them. He filtered through the other drawers, humming slightly in disappointment. "You moved much of my equipment." He said aloud, double-checking a couple of the drawers.

"I didn't need it at the time." Sans explained, as if it was obvious.

"One moment."

Instantly Gaster vanished, catching you off guard. You looked around the lab, and Sans shook his head at you. He looked like he was considering something before looking back at you, mouthing something. It took a moment before you realized he was counting down silently. 'three… two… one..'

You yelped as Gaster appeared in front of you again, carrying a small strange machine that looked like an electric whisk, but without the whisk and the large clunky machinery parts that you usually associated with that cooking hardware. Well… You guess it didn't really look like an electric whisk then after all. He also had a small stand that had various colors of liquids, and he quickly sat the objects down on the counter beside you.

"Soul, please." He pulled out papers and a pen, and held out his hand towards you. You hesitated, but when his eye lights looked at you from the corner of his eyes you felt compelled to do as he said, and yanked out your own Soul. " _Fascinating._ " He uttered, writing down something on the paper. He's left-handed, you noticed. You couldn't read it, given that it was in Wing Dings, but you felt too dizzy from pulling out your Soul to bother reading anyway. He glanced up at you a moment as his hand hovered close to your Soul, letting you have a chance to voice any concerns. You didn't say anything, so he carefully grabbed the floating red heart.

His fingertips felt like they were burning along your body, not painfully so, just uncomfortably warm. You shifted your weight around on your rear as he turned the Soul over and looked at it closer. He squinted his eyes, before snapping his fingers. A pair of narrow rectangular glasses appeared on his face and he stopped his squinting, though you had no idea how they stayed in their spot since he didn't have any ears or nose for them to rest on.

"I didn't know you needed glasses." You half asked, observing them. You felt a shiver travel up your spine and he dragged a finger up the white crack of your Soul. He turned and wrote something down.

"They are simply so I can see up close and personal." He stated, giving a quick wave towards Sans' position without looking at him. "Sans has a pair himself, though those are to see further than the average room. He refuses to wear them."

"They are uncomfortable." Sans added, seeing you glance towards him. That really shocked you. All this time Sans was near-sighted, and you had no idea.

Gaster continued observing your Soul, occasionally touching here, pressing there, seeming to test the extent of the crack. With just about every new motion he would write something. It was an incredibly tedious process, but you found yourself not minding it. It was almost entertaining watching him study your Soul, and it wasn't like you had any episodes left to watch in the meantime.

He flicked the blue band, and even though you didn't feel much, Sans visibly jerked.

"Hey!" His outburst was slightly louder than necessary, but he remained on the ground.

"Huh." Gaster's interest seemed to rise, and he turned to face Sans. Pressing along the blue band. You could see Sans resisting to squirm, but the slight twitch in his arm was a clear indicator that he felt the pressures. "How interesting. I have never seen such a successful Soul bind before, especially one that was made in such dire conditions." He marveled at the blue band, continuing to prod at it. Sans hands turned into fists as he tried to ignore the Soul pokes and pinches.

"Vertebae was the one asking to be tested, not _me_." He snapped, clearly not liking the violation of the fraction of his Soul.

"Of course. My apologies." Gaster lifted his hand away from the band, getting the hint. He wrote a few more things down and drew a line under the writings. "Here you go." He walked back in front of you, pushing the Soul gently with two fingers back into your chest. Your breath stuttered as the colors of the room came back, brighter and more pure than you thought possible. The chill of the room gave you chicken skin, and the world seemed to become more solid under your grasp. You caught your breath, mentally trying to shake off all of the extremes you were now noticing. You looked back at Gaster, noticing that he was watching you intensely. "How _intriguing_." His voice practically purred as a smile grew on his face, and he quickly went back to his papers to write something down.

"Any possibility for me to observe your Soul, brother?" Gaster glanced over his shoulder.

"Not a chance in Hell."

"Thought not." He seemed disappointed, writing a short sentence. "It would be terribly interesting to see how it handled absorbing part of my Soul. It looks like it took nicely to the Integrity, in the least." Gaster noted, waiting for some sort of reaction out of Sans. He didn't get one.

"If… If Sans has part of your Soul… What does your Soul look like now?" You asked, not sure if that was something you should ask. Gaster turned to you, slightly moving his glasses to peer at you over the frame in shock, like he never expected the question from you, but slowly his expression shifted to one of intrigue.

"Ah ha, so you are curious as well. Would you like to see it?" He asked, squaring his shoulders with you and motioning with his hand towards his chest. You lifted your hand, pausing a second before turning it into a fist and slowly pulling it towards you.

His Soul was missing.

At least, that's what it looked like. You pulled out what looked like a thin white outline of the stereotypical heart, only it was upside down, and had only a very slight red glow in the middle of it. The rest of the heart was completely empty, not even holding a frosted look like yours did. Your eyes focused on the bit of red floating around in the middle of it, and noticed that it was slowly drifting around in the Soul, leaving a short, shimmery tail of light as it traveled throughout the heart from one end to the other, almost searching for the exit. You could feel your Soul thumping inside of you, every muscle in your body urging you to take the redness. You wanted to grab it, and take it _back_. _It was yours_.

"Go on." Gaster's voice snapped you out of your thoughts, stepping forward and bringing his Soul close to you. He had the look of a kid testing the limits of something. "You have my permission to touch it." You looked away from his sharp-toothed smile and back to the Soul, and you had the same urges come rushing back soon as your eyes locked onto the redness. Your stolen Determination. You slowly reached for the Soul.

"Pump the breaks." Sans interrupted, speaking up and startling you out of your almost hypnosis. He stood up and walked over to the two of you, crossing his arms. "Gaster, I need you to bring it down, right now." Gaster smirked, glancing at you at the familiar phrase. "No, really, I understand you finally have a new willing plaything to entertain yourself with, but for the love of god try to be decent about it." He grabbed the Soul and smacked it back into Gaster in one fluid motion. That caught Gaster off-guard, making him stumble back as the Soul entered him again. Sans didn't apologize. "They're just a human, they don't understand everything involving Souls. I would much rather if you didn't give them the impression that they were used for Show-and-Tell." Sans crossed his arms again, judgmentally looking at Gaster. Gaster seemed shocked that Sans was so well composed and direct, slight smirk growing.

"Of course, brother. I had assumed you have not let them explore your own Soul, so I wanted to give them the opportunity." Gaster explained, and you saw Sans tighten his jaw ever so slightly. "Unless of course; you have. In that case, congratulations." You could feel the tension in the air grow at the implications of exploring each other's Souls, apparently a much bigger deal that you were lead to believe.

"Okay, duly noted." You quickly said, putting your hand between the brothers. "We can continue with the other tests you had planned." You suggested, trying to cut the tension. They both considered each other for a moment, glancing at your hand. It worked, and Sans quietly walked back to his spot on the ground next to the wall. Gaster changed gears, turning his attention to the beakers and sorting them out. He seemed like he had a permanent smile on his face as he worked, clearly doing the thing he love most in life. He mixed a few of the liquids in the small glass beakers, sorting smaller samples in the small tray until they filled a row. Tapping the plastic beside the glass to count them quickly, he wrote down something on a fresh piece of paper. Seeming satisfied, he pulled out a scalpel.

"Hand." He curtly said, holding his towards you. You stared at the small knife, but made no motion to give him your hand.

"Uh… How 'bout no?" You raised your eyebrows, still staring at the scalpel. You felt Gaster's agitation grow slightly, and he spun the knife expertly between his fingers like you've done with pencils, but roughly three hundred percent more lethal looking.

"Don't be a child, it will not hurt much." He brought the knife up and grabbed your hand that you held the counter with, sending slight panic coursing through your veins as he turned it palm up. Grabbing the middle finger slightly tighter than he needed, he quickly and precisely pricked the tip of your finger with the knife. He put the knife down, to your relief, and pressed against your finger over the small beakers. Moving your hand was much easier to do now that you weren't concerned for your well-being. He quickly squeezed a few drops of blood into each of the glasses, before quickly rubbing his thumb over the tip of your finger, brushing the leftover blood onto it. A small dot of his black tar appeared on your finger, acting like a bandaid. You heard his low chuckle radiate from deep in his chest, and saw his halos observing you.

"Ever fearful, as always." He noted, sealing up the beakers with his other hand.

"It's… it's how humans stay alive." You offered; feeling embarrassed about the situation. His eyes squinted slightly with his smile, and he brought his thumb to his mouth, meeting with a dark tongue.

The motion was so quick you almost missed it. Had you have blinked, you would have never seen the black tongue lick up your blood, but you didn't blink, and you did see it. It sent a chill down your spine, and you could almost swear that you saw Gaster's smile grow ever so slightly.

He was quickly back to work on the glass beakers, rotating a few of them upside down and right side up a few times before setting them down again. A couple of them he gently shook, and watched for reactions. One clear liquid turned solid red. Another had a couple of blue sparks before it turned back to looking like water with a drop of blood in it. The final one had no reaction that you could see, just simply being tinted red water. The last one seemed to generate some disappointment for Gaster, but the others he seemed like he expected the results.

"So… What about those?" You asked, ignoring what he did earlier, you motion to the few he set back in the tray after rotating them.

"Those will be spun after a while, do not worry, I will not waste your time with those results." He waved a hand in the air. "I only have a couple more tests for you, but they will take a moment to prepare." He continued writing. Your stomach growled loudly, catching the attention from both Sans and Gaster. "… You appear to be hungry."

"You don't say." Sans' sarcastic voice piped up as he stood, groaning slightly, apparently his bones didn't like him sitting on the ground for so long. He stretched, looking at you and glancing down at your foot. "I'll grab some food for you… I'll be right back." He looked between you and Gaster for a moment, seeming to consider if he should really leave you alone with him, before turning to the door. "Be decent." He glanced at Gaster, who gave just a fraction of a bow.

"Of course." Gaster responded, watching as Sans left and closed the door. He turned back to his papers, writing down more things quickly, seeming to grow excited. "Oh, I suppose we could do a quick test right now, if you do not mind?" He asked, glancing up at you and dragging two lines under separate parts of the sentence he was working on.

"Sure, what do you need me to do?" You asked, assuming it was time to test your knee reflexes with the tiny hammer or something. Suddenly your back was slammed against the other wall, not hard as it could have been but enough to make your head spin. You tried to move, but found yourself feeling restricted by orange magic. The light of the room dimmed as Gaster appeared inches in front of you, slamming a hand onto the wall next to your head, and looking down with hungry orange halos burning in his eyes. His sharp toothed smile grew as he brought his mouth close to your ear, his warm breath brushing over your neck.

" _Be afraid_."


	44. Prophecy Day

The command was simple enough to follow.

Your adrenaline was already pumping through your veins as you struggled against the magical bonds, your mind scrambling and trying to make sense of the situation. You could feel Gaster's smile close to your ear, his hand grabbing your shoulder one sharp finger at a time, the heat radiating from him. You were breathing shallowly and quickly, feeling like you couldn't get enough oxygen in your system as your muscles pulled with all their force to wield no results. Gaster wouldn't hurt you, right? If he wanted to hurt you, he would have done so a long time ago… So what was he planning on doing to you?

As your thoughts scrambled to gather the worst possible scenarios, Gaster grew to his full height, throwing his head back and closing his eyes. A rumble came from deep in his chest and turned to a dark laugh, eyes cracking open as they drifted back down to you. A hand closed around your throat and he tilted your head to watch the panic on your face.

"So this is what it feels like to be alive." His voice seemed different. Darker, excited, and even more dangerous sounding than usual. "Fascinating." His hand tightened around your throat and he pressed his body against yours, his nails digging into your shoulder. You opened your mouth to scream, but black tar covered your mouth the moment you started.

Trapped.

He had you pinned with nowhere to go. Every time you tried summoning your teleporting powers and started feeling the needles, he would tighten his grip ever so slightly, halting any progress you would be making. "You don't get to run off again. As of right now, you are mine." He growled. He knew you were trying to teleport, you swallowed, mind reeling and trying to come up with a plan C. The magic holding you up suddenly faded, and Gaster caught you, holding you by your sides and pinning you to the wall. His face pressed against where your neck met your shoulder, and you could feel him take in your scent.

No longer restricted by the orange magic, your hands flew to his shoulders, trying to push him away to no avail. He was too strong, too close, to gain any sort of advantage. You tried kicking him, but he didn't seem to notice your weak attacks. Your muffled struggling was the only sound in the quiet room, and you knew Sans wasn't going to hear anything. He wouldn't be back in time.

That thought sent a chill throughout your body as the terrifying realization settled in you, and that seemed to make Gaster grip tighter onto you as a rumbling came from deep in his chest. "That is right… Feel the terror coursing through your body. The hopelessness of your reality. I need it." His teeth brushed along your neck down to where your neck met your shoulder, the sharp edges threatening to break skin. You froze up, unable to think of anything you could do to escape. He was right; you were powerless to defend against him. You were at his mercy.

Your thoughts were panicking so badly it took you a moment to realize he stopped moving, simply holding you in that position for a few seconds.

The coldness of the room suddenly became apparent as he separated himself from you, his magic effortlessly picking you up and bringing you back to the counter. He quickly stepped over to his papers, writing something quickly as his magic released you back in your original seat. The tar left your mouth and you gasped for air, bringing your knees close to you, shock still scrambling your thoughts as you tried to figure out what just happened. You felt yourself shaking, watching Gaster fearfully while he seemed to ignore you.

"My apologies, but I needed genuine results." Gaster quickly said as he wrote another line in Wing Dings before swiftly standing straight, and pulling his Soul out. The once hollow Soul now seemed like it was almost pure red, just along the edges you could see the gap between the Determination and white outline. He gave a single shocked laugh, taking a step back and bringing a hand to his forehead. "It… It worked. My theory was correct." He gave another relieved laugh, looking like exhaustion was suddenly catching up with him. He wiped sweat away at his forehead with the back of his wrist, still staring unbelieving at the Soul.

Gaster looked up at you, genuine smile appearing on his face as he stepped up to you. You had another wave of panic as he grew closer, and you saw the red in his Soul brighten ever so slightly, but he didn't seem to notice as he reached out for you. Orange magic grabbed you and threw you into his arms with a yelp, and he held you in a tight hug as he spun around. "You beautiful, glorious human!" He held you up by your arms, looking excited. "Do you know what this means?" He asked quickly, eyes wide and smile big. You've never seen him so happy.

You have also never been more terrified in your life.

"G-gaster…" You could feel yourself shaking in his hands, and his smile quickly dropped when he saw how red your face was, the slight quiver in your lip. "C-can you… put me down, p-please?" It took everything you had to not start crying at the request, your nerves clashing and still reeling from the panic. The response was instant, and he quickly set you down back on the counter. You immediately pulled your knees close and hugged yourself, still watching him carefully.

"What is wrong? Are you hurt? Was I perhaps to rough?" He asked quickly, seeming to grow concerned and leaned down to look for exterior damage with a much more expressive face than usual. You felt a flash of anger, and your eyes burned.

"I t-thought… I thought you were going to…" You inhaled trying to keep your shaking under control, but it felt like you just made it worse. You brought a hand up to where his teeth threatened to break skin, and looked away.

"Oh, no, of course not!" He straightened himself for a moment, seeming to realize what you were getting at. He swallowed, and leaned forward to quickly explain himself. "I would never mark you as my own. I simply needed you as terrified as you could possibly could be. I would never actually put you under anything like that, that was just a-" There was a cracking sound, and he recoiled, bringing a hand to his face. You had your hand extended, and you realized you smacked him.

"But. You. Did." You said sharply, shaking violently. You tried to control your breathing, anger burning on your face. "I was terrified. Y-you can't just… do that!" You yelled, voice straining. Gaster seemed genuinely shocked you were so upset. That made you angrier. "What? D-did you expect me to be frightened for my life one moment, and fine the next?!" Gaster opened his mouth to say something, but you jumped to the ground and interrupted him. "No! It doesn't work that way! I don't care what your reasons are, that isn't okay! I'm only human!"

"Precisely! I thought humans were resilient when their life was on the line. Surely you must have survived more life endangering situations than that." He tried reasoning, taking a step back away from your rage. He must be nearly half a foot taller than Papyrus in height, yet he seemed to think you were a danger when angry.

"My life, maybe, not… that!"

"What's going on here?" Sans' voice caught the both of you off guard, and you turned to see him standing at the open door, a paper bag in his hand. He looked at how defensively Gaster was standing, and how your cheeks were burning with anger. His eyebrows lowered and he looked at Gaster. "What did you do?"

You immediately stomped over to Sans and grabbed the paper bag out of his hands. "Tell your fucking brother how to treat a human properly." The venom in your voice shocked Sans, but you left the basement and stepped into the snow. It seemed like it was growing dark in Snowdin, but it wasn't like you had any concept of time down here anyway. As you walked away from the basement you heard Sans pick up an accusatory tone of voice, but you left the brothers to the argument without you.

The snow crunched under your bare feet, and you bit your cheek to ignore the regret of allowing yourself to be teleported unprepared earlier. You quickly made your way to the house, going in just long enough to slip on shoes, ignoring the concerned look Flowey gave you and slammed the door behind you. You were halfway to the entrance of Waterfall when you realized you were still in your robe and pajamas, but you didn't care at this point. You fixed your disheveled robe to cover more of your neck, but not because you needed the warmth.

The entrance of Waterfall welcomed you with warm air, probably coming all the way from Hotland you figured. You let the blue toned darkness surround you as you continued walking through, letting the distant sound of running water slow down your thoughts.

Your mind replayed the events of the basement without your permission, and you kept shaking your head to focus on where you were right now. One thing that stuck out was how he insisted he wasn't going to… 'mark' you. Your hand rubbed your shoulder, thinking about it. As if getting 'marked' was what you were worried about.

Shaking your thoughts away once more, you made your way through the close cave space until you finally ended up where all the bridges were. You stopped a moment to take in the scene, before walking to the edge you and Sans ate at before. You really were a creature of habit, you realized as you sat down and pulled off your shoes, slowly putting your feet into the blue glowing water. Finally opening the paper bag you took from Sans, you saw plenty of hotdogs in buns stacked on each other, along with an entire bottle of ketchup next to them. There was just about enough food in here for three people, you realized with a slight pang of guilt. It ended shortly after Gaster's actions replayed in your mind yet again, and you quickly grabbed a hotdog and gave it a small layer of ketchup before angrily biting into it.

"Just who does he think he is?" You mumbled with a mouthful of food, kicking the water. You swallowed and took another bite while staring at the waves of color. Possibly the worst thing about the situation, you figured, was how you didn't see it coming. Ever since he was back he seemed cold, but more-or-less predictable. He was a doctor, and acted on curiosity but not to the point of threatening you like… that. After the fact he seemed so excited and active, somehow losing his cold doctor act after that terrifying situation. Maybe it had something to do with his Soul.

You paused mid-bite at that thought, just for a moment, before finishing the hotdog and grabbing another. His Soul was nearly full of Determination when he pulled it out the second time, but you didn't know what exactly that meant. He was going to tell you, you realized, but of course you doubted you would have been able to appreciate that answer in the state you were in.

"You know, food tends to taste better when you actually take the time to taste it." An old voice startled you, nearly making you drop what little of the hotdog you had left. You quickly turned around to see an old turtle monster looking at you. He stopped stroking his beard and slapped his knee. "Wahaha! So jumpy! I'm sure you have your reasons though." You blinked at the monster, not knowing how to respond. He took the silence as an invitation to sit beside you. "Gerson." He introduced himself simply.

You said your name, silently wondering why he was suddenly picking up a conversation with a random stranger. He seemed to notice. "You've a question in your eyes, I can see it. You've also lots of anger in there too. I'm not about to pry into anyone's business, but I can see you need a distraction… and maybe help with those hotdogs?" He looked at your paper bag with his one good eye, slight smile hinting at his actual intentions with sitting with you.

"They're not really mine to give out… but you can have one I suppose." You grab one out of the bag and hand it to the old monster, who seemed to appreciate it quite a bit.

"Ah, that's what I love about you humans! Either you are completely selfish, or truly givin', and you never know what you might end up with! Wahaha!" He laughed again, taking a massive bite out of the hotdog. "Where are my manners? I said I was going to distract you, yet here I am making casual conversation." He coughed and cleared his throat. "Let me tell you 'bout the prophecy. Sure, the darn thing seems to be irrelevant now since we monsters are freed and everything, but it sure does make a nice story." He pulled out a small purple cloth that was in the shape of a rounded shield, a circle with wings were taking over the top half, while three triangles almost looked like a face at the bottom.

He continued to talk about how the circle was an angel, said that they were the one who was going to empty the underground. He then laughed and said how the underground was still not empty, but the principle of the prophecy came true enough. He then continued to distract you more, talking about the ancient monster-human war, which he seemed to know too much about to have simply heard about it. You started to wonder how old monsters could even get, given that the war had become nothing more a bedtime story back on the surface…

He had strange nicknames for other monsters you knew, the one that stood out the most was his name for the King. Fluffybuns. That managed to make you laugh, and he seemed to take comfort that you genuinely responded. He talked and talked… rarely needing any sign to continue talking about absolutely everything.

After awhile he suddenly grew quiet, and he looked around the empty cave room you two were in.

"Say, I don't see many humans around these parts alone. More often than not they are with another monster or travel in a pack, but givin' that you are so comfortable as to wear your 'jamas here, I can safely assume you've been here for some time, eh?" He half asked, and you shrugged.

"A little while, yeah." You had kept your answers short and vague for the turtle during the encounter so far, and he picked up on that.

"Long vacations are fine and all, but don't be hiding for too long." He commented, finally finishing up the last bit of hotdog he had been holding onto this entire time. You startled, wondering how he knew. "The only people who go on breaks are ones who need to get away from something. The only time someone is upset on their break is when they can't escape what they're running from." He winked at you… or maybe just blinked, you couldn't exactly tell when he only had one eye.

"I'll… keep that in mind, thank you." You looked down at your feet, gently splashing the water to make the waves grow brighter in color.

"I think I distracted you long enough." He stood up with a grunt, seeming to struggle with the shell on his back for a moment. "I'll leave you to your business." He gave a lazy wave to you and started walking back over the bridges. You mulled over the stories he told you. They weren't directly relevant to your life at all, yet you took comfort in knowing about them. Old people were too wise for their own good, you concluded before standing up and shaking off the water on your feet.

You tried to dry your feet to the best of your ability before slipping on your shoes again, but you really didn't want to walk all the way back to Sans' house… Maybe you could try to teleport again? You swallowed, not really wanting to scare yourself to try teleporting though, knowing that you had plenty of material for that. You shook your head and sat down again, crossing your legs. People say meditation is great to control your thoughts… It was worth a shot.

You straightened your back and relaxed your arms, putting the paper bag in your lap and listening to the running water around you. In… Out… You controlled your breathing, and tried to clear your mind. Thoughts of the monster war bubbled in your head, and you quickly brushed them off. Come on, you could do it. In… Out… Your home popped up, and you wondered how Samus was doing. You hoped she was enjoying her time with Undyne and Alphys. She probably missed climbing in Sans.

"Agghhh…" You grumbled, rubbing your head. Your thoughts were too active to be empty. You would be here forever if you kept trying to meditate like this. You sighed, figuring the easiest way to teleport would to give yourself a quick scare, but you had trouble deciding if it was worth it. You made an incredibly short pro-con list that simply consisted of; Pros: Get to Sans' place without the long walk. Cons: Scared. You sighed, your laziness winning the argument.

Swallowing, you closed your eyes and imagined yourself in a dark room, trying to force the thought of vines covering the ground. Yeah… Yeah that's scary as shit, you congratulated yourself before realizing you weren't actually scared of that at the moment. You grumbled at yourself and quickly shook your head, restarting the imagination.

The vines were slowly moving around you, growing along the sides of the shadows, before they all suddenly stopped moving. They started to sag, turning brown before slowly collapsing into dust, confusing you. You heard footsteps beside you, and when you turned your head, you saw a man with a crooked nose and burns across his face pointing a gun to your head. He had a wild look in his eyes, along with something dark that was splattered all across him. You looked down his dust-covered body, seeing that he was holding a long metal arm. That arm looked familiar to you, but before you could process it, you heard him cock the hammer of the gun back.

"End of the line, pet."

The gun fired, and you screamed as you fell in the air. Your fall was interrupted by the table in Sans' living room, but only partially. You bounced to the ground hard, putting pressure on your tailbone as you swore and hissed through your breaths, the pain being equal to at least double that of hitting your funny bone on the counter edge.

"Whoa!" You heard Sans shout, a cup falling to the ground. You glanced up to see Sans looking shocked at you, before quickly coming to your side. "You okay, Vertebae?" He asked, helped you sit up, but you kept sitting on a hand, to try and relieve the pain. You started to shake your head, but automatically trying to nod, and ended up with an awkward impersonation of a bobble head. You swallowed and looked around the room to make sure you actually ended up where you wanted, more-or-less.

Gaster looked like he was sitting at the couch before you appeared, now standing with a hand to his chest as he looked puzzled between you and it. "Did something happen?" He quickly asked, seeming to be his more lively self rather the doctor.

"No- I mean, yes, but not really…" You quickly said, shaking your head trying to get your thoughts straight. "Sans, call Alphys." You quickly looked at Sans, your request confusing him.

"Right now? It's pretty late-"

"Call Alphys." You said again, carefully standing up and rubbing your rear. "Just… trust me. It's probably nothing, but please?" He nodded, quickly heading up the stairs and to his room. You watched him close the door behind him, hoping your imagination was just an out of control daydream.

"Are… are you alright?" Gaster asked. You looked at him, and he was still looking concerned at you.

"Just peachy." You said flatly, clear that you haven't forgiven or forgotten what he'd done yet. He nodded, averting his eyes a moment before looking back to you. His hands were tying themselves into knots before he took a breath, bringing them behind his back.

"I should… properly apologize. Sans has told me more about humans and I realized that my actions earlier may have came across as a much more personal form of attacking." You raised your eyebrow, waiting for more. "Please understand my interactions with humans within this reality are nearly nonexistent. Before the core incident I have had but a couple encounters with humans, not nearly enough to learn any sort of behavioral or social norms. I believed I was simply threatening your physical body and the integrity of Sans' territory, as… that is what the equivalent to monsters is." He swallowed, seeming genuinely nervous. "I would not have acted in such a manner had I known it carried a different weight for humans." He bowed slightly, keeping his eyes to the ground.

"God, why do you have to always be so wordy?" You asked, crossing your arms. Gaster looked up at you, shocked. "Just… say you are sorry already, man. I don't care what your excuse is, I just want to know- that you know- that you seriously messed up and won't do it again." You frowned at him, and he quickly stood up properly again, placing a hand on his chest.

"My ap- I mean… I am sorry. It will not happen again without express permission." He gave a slight bow again, and you wondered where he picked that sort of habit up. You considered his apology, but you weren't entirely sure if you could forgive him just yet. It did seem like he meant it, at least.

"Guys, we have a problem." Sans stepped close to the railing on the second floor, looking down at the two of you. He had the phone in his hand, and you could see the worry on his face.

"What's wrong?" You asked feeling a pit open in your stomach, already having a bad feeling that you knew what happened.

"They have Mettaton."


	45. Hall Day

You were almost done shoving the last of your clothes into your suitcase, Gaster helpfully handing your things to you one by one with his powers. Sans was pacing around the room, phone pressed to the side of his head.

"Yeah bro, I know. Everything's gonna be- no bro, just wait. We'll take care of- I don't know how, but everything will work out, okay? Bro- bro- listen to me- _Papyrus_ , everything is going to be fine. Put Alphys back on the line for me, okay?" Sans glanced at you as you finally zipped up the final zipper of your suitcase, eye lights lingering on the bag a moment too long before turning and speaking again. "Alphys, just keep to the apartment, alright? We'll be heading back up now... Yeah- Look, it's not like we have any other choice." He sighed, rubbing his forehead.

You grabbed a water bottle from Sans' bag and drank a little before precariously pouring out a majority of it in the too-tall kitchen sink. Flowey was looking awfully confused until you picked him up and slid him in, tapping his head to get him further in the bottle.

"Ow-Ah-Hey-Pwahhh… What are you-!?" Flowey's outburst was interrupted by your finger pressing against his mouth, cutting him off as you managed to tap all of him except for his oversized head into the bottle, making it look like he was one of those awkward homemade bottle caps. His leaves inside the bottle wiggled, seeming frustrated, but he couldn't do much about his situation.

"Sorry, this is the best we can do." You quickly said, putting him in the bottle holder pouch on the suitcase. He seemed like he wasn't content being treated like a common beverage, but you got up and looked around the house one last time for anything you may have forgotten.

"Give us a few hours and we'll be there. Keep Papyrus safe for me." Sans finished the call and snapped his phone shut. "You have everything?" Sans asked, turning to you. You thought a moment, feeling like you were forgetting something. Not something physical, but...

"Oh- I promised Fuku I'd try to get tea tomorrow." You realized, running a hand through your hair. "I need to leave her a note so she-" Before you could even finish the sentence Gaster vanished from your view, only to appear a second later holding a pen and sheet of paper.

"Best make it short and simple." He suggested, holding the supplies out for you. You nodded, grabbing them and quickly going to the table to write the note.

[ _Fuku,_

 _Sorry I couldn't get the tea like I said I would! Something serious happened back home, so I need to get back as soon as possible. Thank you so much for letting me use your bathhouse, and thanks for the food and tea! Let me know if you ever go to the surface, you'll always be welcomed at my place!_ ]

You quickly wrote your name and contact information, incase she ever did make it to the surface. You wish you could express your gratitude towards her properly, but this was the best you could do for now. "Okay, I think that's everything." You folded the paper over twice.

"Then let's not waste any time." Sans grabbed one of the suitcases and tossed it at Gaster, who caught it out of reflex despite the fact he appeared to be looking at your note. Sans stepped beside you and offered you a hand, Gaster placing a hand on Sans' shoulder. You took the hand, and the world tightened around you. The feeling of nails and glass cut past your skin, making your head scream and stomach flip upside down.

You fell to your knees on the snow, coughing violently. You felt a hand rest on your back, but it took a moment for the ringing in your head to quiet enough to hear Sans' voice. The ringing didn't seem like it was stopping though.

"-okay?" He finished asking. You could guess what he was asking easy enough.

"O-ow…" You mumbled, swallowing and taking a breath before replying. "That… That hurt a _lot_ more than usual." You shook your head and tried to stand up too quickly, nearly losing your balance. Gaster caught you by placing a hand on your back as Sans grabbed your arm. The three- well, _four_ of you were standing outside of Fuku's, which was completely dark.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Flowey mumbled quietly behind Gaster, and you vaguely wondered how a flower would throw up.

"Perhaps leave the teleportation to me, brother." Gaster suggested, picking up the note from the ground and holding it out for Sans between two fingers.

"I… yeah." Sans grabbed the note and stepped to the door, jamming it between the frame and handle. He tapped the note to make sure it wasn't going to fall on its own. "What did that feel like?" He asked, looking at you, concerned. If he heard Flowey, he made no sign.

"Like getting dragged through a tube of glass and needles, like usual. Just… a lot more painful." You quickly explained, thinking it was no big deal. Sans' eyes widened at that.

"Wait, you mean you usually feel _that_ when we teleport?" Oh, you must've never told him.

"Well, lately, yeah. I assumed that's how it was suppose to feel..." You swallowed. "It's fine, really. Lets just focus on getting back on the city." Sans seemed like he wanted to ask something else, but you reminded him of the urgency you guys were in. He hesitated a moment, before walking beside Gaster and placing a hand on his arm.

"Are you ready?" Gaster asked, adjusting his hand between your shoulder blades. You nodded, trying to ignore your growing headache. The world broke into billions of pieces, swirling around you and slowly building into a grey walkway under your feet. You turned to the side, seeing massive castle walls and buildings spiral seemingly endlessly in the darkness. Sans never showed you this, but you knew you were still in the Underground. "Feeling alright?" Gaster asked, hand dropping to his side.

"Yeah, that was fine." You quickly nod, looking around. "Where… are we?" You asked, confused. Sans had told you there was a lot more to the Underground… but you didn't imagine anything like _this_. You would have liked a chance to explore it, in the least.

"Close to the Barrier- or, the Exit, I suppose. I have never been on the surface physically, so I fear I may not be able to make a successful teleport there." Gaster explained. "The Exit is just up ahead, past the Throne Room."

"You were the Royal Scientist, didn't Asgore let you into the Throne Room?" Sans asked, seeming slightly irritated that you guys had to walk more than planned. You tucked your wonder of this part of the Underground into the back of your mind and started walking, not wanting to be any part of the growing argument between the brothers. Your head felt like it was buzzing.

"Only once, he felt it more humbling to visit me in other locations." You heard Gaster comment, following behind you. "However that was when the Queen was still married to Asgore, and most likely had a different room arrangement than what it is currently. Forgive me for not wanting one of us to end up as a part of furniture." He had a bit of chill to his voice. You didn't realize teleporting was so risky.

You turned the corner of the hallway, and stopped mid step when you saw an orange tinted pillar in your view. Something started waving red flags in the back of your mind, but you didn't know what it was. Gaster and Sans had a few other quips at each other, but the ringing in your head was growing louder and you couldn't bother yourself to make out what they were saying as they stepped past you. You shook your head and followed them in, feeling your heartbeat pound harder as you looked down the long open hallway. It looked familiar, dangerously so, but at the same time it shouldn't have. You were never here before. _Ignore it_. You just needed to get to the surface. You tighten your jaw and look at the source of the light, seeing the same symbol the turtle monster showed you on the windows.

Harsh gold light was streaming from stained glass to the left of you, which made the columns lining the walkway even more menacing looking. You thickly swallow, feeling like you were breaking into a cold sweat. What was going on with you? You tried to ignore everything and continue following the bickering brothers, but you stopped just short of the sixth pillar in the hall. You couldn't bring yourself to move. Something was very, _very_ wrong.

Gaster stopped mid-sentence to glance towards his chest, before looking back at you, noticing that you stopped behind the two of them. "Human? What is wrong?" He asked, flickering a moment before vanishing. The ringing suddenly stopped, leaving the only the distant sound of birds chirping left in the empty air. It was so quiet, you could hear your strained breathing. Sans turned around, and you took a step back out of fear.

He was looking at you with an expression you could only describe as pure, unadulterated, _loathing_.

You've seen that look before.

Your hand instinctively tightened, shocking you when your nails dug into your palm. You glanced down to see your bare hand, but you could _see_ the knife in your grip, the dust staining your arm. The world felt like it was spinning around as your reality flickered from one instance to another, and you quickly threw the nonexistent knife to the ground. Your motion felt partially restricted, and for the briefest of moments you thought you saw thin purple lines coiling around your fingers.

"Sans… Sans, what-" You had the sensation of a string tightening around your neck, cutting you off. Suddenly you remembered all of this. Your dream from who-knows how long ago. Why was it affecting you now?

" _Careful, do you see their eyes?"_ A voice sounding like a muffled echo came from all around you, but you couldn't figure out where it was coming from. " _How fascinating."_ Sans stepped forward, and you took a defensive step back. He stopped and opened his mouth, looking like he was saying something but only deafening silence filled the air. Between the two of you the air flickered in a pattern that faintly reminded you of a spider's web. " _Perhaps this room- Oh dear."_ His eye flared as he brought a hand out in front of him, twisting it and wrenching it towards him without a care of how it would feel for you. You yelped as you were yanked forward, and your Soul popped out of your chest.

It was wrong.

Wrong.

Wrong.

 _Wrong_.

It was just red. Where was the blue? The crack? It couldn't be your Soul. It wasn't _your_ Soul. You felt frozen in place as you stared at the floating red heart, and for the first time you noticed the color draining from the area. You shakily look up from the Soul, watching as the golden hallway desaturated till everything was in tones of grey. Everything except for the blue burning eye.

Sans pointed a finger at your Soul, and it flickered, turning a dark blue. You quickly grabbed it, shocked when it was heavy and nearly pulled you to the ground.

Bones.

Gaster Blasters.

Pain.

Thoughts and memories of the dream flashed in front of your eyes, making you flinch and step back, only to be suddenly pulled up slightly into the air. You thought you saw strings wrapping around the Soul before your vision focused, leaving just a slight blue glow on the outside. "No no no no…" You panicked, knowing what was going to happen next.

" _What are you idiots doing? Stop them already!"_

The ground rushed up at you and you tried to ready yourself for the bones you knew would be bursting out of the ground, only for the gravity to suddenly switch and throw you past Sans and down the hall. Your Soul tightened and you heard the sound of strings snapping as you screamed down the hall, watching the doorway quickly rush up to greet you. You coiled around your Soul and waited for you to splat against the wall past the door, but your head spun as your movement suddenly halted inches from the entrance. Your chest hurt like you were in a car and someone hit the break too hard, knocking the wind out of you. You open your eyes to see your blue Soul, fractions of seconds you could see a flickering orange glow on the outside.

Your Soul pulled you forwards again, slower, until you finally went through the doorway. Your reality shattered as you had the feeling of someone dumping a bucket of ice water on you. You shivered and gasped, and the force holding you up vanished. An inch before hitting the ground the orange magic appeared, just for a second, before finally dropping you onto the cold stone floor.

"I told you to catch them!" Sans' voice said, sounding just a too loud compared to the silence moments ago.

"I did. You didn't request for me to continue holding them." Gaster commented, and the two of them quickly came to your side. Sans knelt down, helping you sit on your knees as you looked around, confused on what just happened but felt a cloud of exhaustion settling in your head. You felt like you had massive papercuts all along your body.

"What…" You started to ask, feeling like you were out of breath. You looked down at your Soul, seeing that it was back to being _your_ Soul again. You noticed small white lines fishnetted across the redness, but you quickly pushed it back into your chest. The only difference you saw as a result was the color of San's jacket coming back, the rest of the hallway you were currently in seemed to be all grey toned like earlier.

"You froze up and looked like you were zoning out. Then…" Sans begun to explain before looking like he didn't know what else to say, and instead started looking you over quickly to make sure you were physically okay. You personally saw your arms looking redder than usual, but nothing else drew your attention.

"I thought it was the room that was affecting you, it appears I was right. My apologies. I was too focused on distracting my brother through the hallway, I had no idea it could also potentially have some adverse effects for you as well." Gaster quickly said, offering you a single hand to help you up.

"What _happened_ though? You vanished… and it was like my dream all over again." You forced your drowsiness away and took the hand, but waited for his answer.

"Dream? What dream?" Sans asked. You looked at him, seeing him looking concerned.

"The… dream I had after the picnic… where you fought me in that hallway." You grew quiet and looked at the ground, realizing that you didn't tell him that. That dream was back before your Soul originally broke, if you recalled correctly. "I had a knife, and you ended up using a Gaster Blaster on me…" You could see Sans tense up out of the corner of your eye. You remembered it more now, realizing that was the dream that made you want to start training.

"How fascinating." Gaster's bright halos observed you, and you could practically see the gears in his head turning. "You experienced a perspective not of your own, so perhaps your Soul felt the need to relive it properly once it was in the same location." He pulled you up to your feet before kneeling down to eye level, seeming to be looking deep into your eyes. "I do hope you will forgive my previous mistakes and allow me to redo my tests in the future. It seems I may have had false results." You felt confused as he tilted your head to look at your eyes at a slightly better angle, still unsure of what he was looking for. "I have never had a test lie at this magnitude to me before, but apparently I was rushing the results. Web magic is strange enough, but thread based magic is an entirely new concept to me, nor have I ever witnessed magic turning on its user before, but given you are a human it should be expected that-"

"Wait, wait… slow down, test results for what?" You asked, putting a hand on his and pulling back slightly. He looked shocked you needed to ask.

"Your magic, of course."


	46. Surface Day

"What?"

You stared at Gaster, confused to as what exactly he meant. He raised a brow bone. "What part of my sentence are you confused by?"

"The… me, magic, thing." You blinked, bringing a fist to your chest, feeling your Soul thump through your entire being. "Humans don't have magic, you guys keep saying." Gaster exhaled a half laugh, standing straight and looking down at you.

"You accept the ability to teleport without question, but other magic is unfathomable?" He asked, crossing his arms. You looked away, thinking about that. He was right, but….

"Well, I mean, teleporting seems different, and… less magic-y?"

"I will have you know teleportation is among the rarest of magic available to monsters, had it been more frequent I can guarantee we would not have lost the war." He seemed almost offended at your words. "It was a trait only available to few skeletons, until you were so blessed as to be able to _steal_ some of that power for yourself." You could tell that fact was a point of pride for Gaster. He scoffed and waved a hand. "Nonetheless, it is clear you have other magic potential, and somewhat a knack of manifesting it at that. Unfortunately since you are a human, and not a child, learning to control it will be a feat in itself. Hopefully we will have a chance to observe it more at a later time."

Sans put a hand on your arm, and you looked to see him looking concerned. "Are you feeling alright now?" He asked, and you nodded. The pain you were feeling was fading, and all that was left was a bit of drowsiness in your head. "That's good… We should keep moving though. We need to get to town as soon as possible." He looked like he regretted the circumstances, but he had a point. You nodded, taking a breath to try and wake up your head a little more.

You took Sans' hand and he continued to lead you down the hallway. Gaster this time kept behind you, you figured to keep a lookout for any more of your magic. The hallway here seemed so bleak, the only splash of color here was Sans' jacket and your own clothing, everything else was grey. You wondered why the King would allow his hallways to look so dreary when he was so cheerful himself.

Sans turned to go through a doorway, catching you off guard. The hall seemed to continue more and turn to the right ahead of you, but he took the left exit half way through the hall. The color immediately stood out to you, much brighter and more cheerful looking than the previous halls at least. Something about the room caught your attention though. It was familiar, and not in the dream sense. You slowed and stopped before you stepped onto the flowers, Sans almost slipped out of your hand before stopping as well.

"This is where…" You looked at the open room, seeing the single gold and purple throne sit in the middle of a floor of yellow flowers. This was the room where you and Flowey had your first long talk, where you saw your Soul for the first time. You looked around, seeing near-invisible purple threads draping around the room. You noticed one that tied itself to Sans, but he didn't seem to notice it at all. You glanced back at Gaster, not seeing any of the threads lead to him. He raised a brow bone, looking intrigued at your eyes again. You were about to explain, but a thread drew your attention from everything else, seeming more solid than any of the other threads, and your eyes followed it from beside Gaster, before you saw it tied around Flowey. He was looking grumpy, still in the bottle in the pouch.

"Yeah yeah, this is where I attacked you. I said I was sorry already." He looked away and frowned, crossing his leaves in front of him.

"It's not that… you have a thing." You commented, eyes fixing on the purple thread. The more you looked at it, the thicker it seemed, and you could see that it was actually multiple threads coiling around themselves.

"What do you see?" Gaster's voice questioned, seeming slightly further away as the world around you darkened and blurred besides the strings and Flowey. You reached for the string, feeling like your body was moving on its own will.

"A string…" You whispered. A boney hand grabbed your wrist right before you touched the string, startling you and shattering the darkness around you. You jumped, before realizing it was Sans grabbing your wrist. He was looking uneasily at your eyes, like he was seeing something he shouldn't be.

"Don't. You won't like what you see here either." He lifted your hand and brought it closer to you. It was clear he didn't see the strings, but must have a good enough idea to know not to let you touch the one you were reaching for. He paused a moment before his brow bones lowered, still watching your eyes carefully. "You with us?"

"Yeah." You responded, but your voice sounded far away to you. The strings around the room seemed to deepen their color, tempting you to touch any of them. You wanted to know what they were attached to, what they were for.

"Why not let your human do as they wish with these 'strings' they see? It would be quite fascinating to see what they hope to accomplish, or how they react." Gaster offered, seeming very intrigued with whatever was going on as well. Sans sighed, turning and gently pulling you towards the other side of the room.

"We don't have time for this. We are almost to the surface." He quickly said, and you could tell he wasn't in a good mood with everything that was happening. Oh, you hated it when he was upset.

"What's wrong Sans, don't want to get _tied up?_ " You asked, eyes drifting from one string to the next as you allowed yourself to be pulled past the throne. Sans' head jerked up and turned to look at you, wide eyed, before a scrunched smile wiggled its way onto his face.

"Heheh, _frayed knot_. We have _ends_ to meet." Sans punned back, and his smile turning much more relaxed. His eyes still lingered on yours though, you wish you had a mirror to look at yourself with to see what everyone was so interested in.

"Hate for me to _string_ you along for another adventure, huh?" You quickly came up with, hoping to keep him in the good mood for as long as you can.

"Is this completely necessary?" Gaster asked between gritted teeth behind you, and you could get the sense he had a similar outlook on puns as Papyrus did.

"What can I say? They got me _wrapped_ around their fi-" Sans started, but suddenly became muffled as a black tar appeared over his mouth. He grunted, grabbing at it with his free hand to no avail. Sans shot a look over at Gaster, and you looked back to see him with casual disinterest on his face, looking beyond the hall ahead. His eyes drifted down to you, slight irritation just barely visible through the slight twitch of his eye.

"One more pun and you will receive the same treatment." He coldly threatened. You felt one side of your mouth tighten in a slanted smile for a moment, and Gaster's eyes widened.

"Do you mean… _Pun_ ishm-Mppfh!" Tar covered your mouth, as you should have expected but for some reason still startled you. Sans started laughing behind his tar, and you couldn't help but laugh as well. Gaster let out a long sigh, blankly staring ahead as the three of you entered another hall. This one seemed more natural and cave-like, though it felt like you hit a wave of coldness. Chicken skin rose on your arms as your body felt like it got ever so slightly heavier, but you couldn't voice any concerns. You figured it wasn't anything anyway, and didn't stop walking.

Ahead in the hall were the stairs to the surface, though they seemed steeper than what you remembered. You let go of Sans' hand and stepped up, starting to feel the chill of early morning hang in the air. You stepped up enough to need to use your arm to block the blinding morning light from your eyes, though you heard Gaster quiet behind you.

"Mmph?" You looked back down at Gaster, seeing him still standing at the base of the stairs staring at the first step. "Mmmhmmm…" You mumbled behind the tar, getting his attention. His eyes looked at you and slowly widened, mouth dropping ever so slightly. He looked as if he was looking at an angel that was descending from heaven. You suppose the bright light behind you probably had a halo effect, lighting up your hair and the edges of your body. You motioned with your hand upwards, and he quickly looked back at the stairs.

"I… Right. Of course." He quickly said, only to hesitate at moving. You watched him consider the step, perhaps contemplate its existence and eventual destruction, before finally lifting his foot enough to step onto the first one. There he stood a moment, before continuing up. You turned and finished climbing up and waited on the stone platform for him. The stairs after the first seemed to be much easier to handle, and he quickly made his way to the top. The sunlight made him flinch and bring an arm up to block out the light quickly, but once he got to the top he slowly lowered his arm.

He was staring at the sun, mouth open, and what looked like tears building in the corners of his eyes. He fell to his knees, arms flopping to his sides, and the tar around your mouth vanished. "This… I am… We made it…" He gave a single laugh, bringing a holed hand up to his head as he looked down. "I cannot believe... " You could see the tears freely running down his cheeks, an unbelieving smile shakily appearing on his face. You walked over to him and rested a hand on his back, making him jump for a moment before he looked up at you. You wanted to question him why he was reacting so strongly, since he was technically on the surface before, but maybe he was forgetting his time he was in the void. Instead, you tried to think of something movie worthy to say.

"Believe it. Your world just got a _lot_ bigger." You smiled at him, and he slowly looked up at the sky, letting out a breath. His eyes drifted from the clouds, down the sky, until they were staring at the sun again. You put a hand out to block the sunlight from his eyes. "Er… I'm not sure if monsters have this issue as well, but humans aren't supposed to stare at the sun else we might go blind." You quickly explained, seeing Gaster quickly looked at you wondering why you dared to block his view.

"What a terrible curse, to be blessed with something so beautiful, yet never be able to admire it." He said quietly, looking at the sky instead. He took a deep breath, wiped at his cheeks with his hands, and quickly stood up. "Right. My apologies. I am wasting time." He cleared his throat and looked away, clearly embarrassed about reacting so strongly to the surface.

"Heh, it's no problem. Just about everyone had that kind of reaction their first time as well." Sans chuckled a little, crossing his arms and seeming amused at Gaster's reactions. Gaster was turned away from you, still rubbing slightly at his face before looking at his hands. He took another deep breath, turned to you, and standing straight with his hands behind his back.

"Alright. Let us get back on track." He swiftly walked besides Sans and grabbed a bag, waiting for Sans to lead the way. Accepting his eagerness to continue, Sans picked up the other bag and started to lead you guys down the hill.

You walked beside them, feeling the drowsiness starting to weigh heavily in your skull. Maybe using magic made you tired? That would make sense. Far as you knew, using magic might be draining your Soul energy. Monsters' Souls manifested their bodies with magic, and their magic was like an extension of that… or something. Who knows what magic does to things that aren't made out of magic in the first place. Your thoughts drifted, slowly muddling, until you half stumbled over your own feet. You shook your head, trying to wake up more.

"Hey Gaster, how's your memory?" You asked, figuring having a conversation going might help keep you awake.

"Near photographic, I would presume. If I take notes of my studies, I no longer have a need for the paper itself for me to recall what I wrote. Why do you ask?" He looked over curiously, eyes following your hand as you brought it up to your mouth to yawn. Your jaw strained for a moment before relaxing again, leaving you blinking away miniature tears.

"What about the time you spent being all… see-through and goopy?" You were still curious on what he said to you, all those days ago. You doubted anyone would be able to recall what they said 'that one time over a week ago' but there was a chance…

"I am afraid I can recall those days with less accuracy. While I may have appeared transparent and gelatinous to you in this world, my actual residence was within the Void. The times I can recall interacting with the surface are fuzzy at best, and looked more like a small part of the world was brought to me. There was no sky, no buildings, nor anything as bright or as vivid as this." He waved his free hand in front of him, motioning to the nature around being lit by the sky. "One thing I can recall, for an example, was helping you get past the troubling alleyway. You appeared to me as the most solid thing in the void at the moment, as another version of you flickered in and out of my vision. I did not question it, as that was not the strangest thing I've seen there by far, but instead I decided to lead you away from the other you. The road and sidewalk only existed within meters of me, and ghosts walked around the two of us as you spoke gibberish. I appreciated the effort of communication, but I am afraid anything you tried to tell me was not understood in the slightest."

"Huh." You thought about that, how strange the Void must be. When you died you remembered being stuck in something you would describe as _a_ void, but you weren't sure if it was the same place. "What color is the Void? Black?" You asked, curious.

"It is a void. It does not have a color." Gaster answered as if it was obvious.

"No, but like, there has to be _something_ there. Like, were you just floating in a white room then?" You tried again, confused.

"No. There is no room, there is no color. A void means a lacking of anything and everything. There was _nothing_."

"...So just darkness."

Gaster let out a quick sigh and turned sharply towards you. His halos were burning in his eye sockets as he looked down at you, slight frown growing on his face. "Incorrect. There was _nothing_. Not _darkness_ , **nothing** . If there was darkness, that would be _something_ , and therefore not a _void_." He explained quickly, motioning with his hands as if trying to demonstrate. You felt your confusion rise, trying to think of _nothing_. The only comparison you could think of was the emptiness in space, but even that was dark…

"Thats… but…" You saw his brow bones rise ever so slightly at your struggles to comprehend the concept, before he placed a hand on your head. He closed his eyes and gave another small sigh, before looking at you with slightly softer eyes.

"Do stop trying to think so hard. You might damage yourself, and we would not want that after all of the effort we just went through." He gave your head a slight pat before turning and continuing down the hill. Sans seemed amused, watching as you took a moment to blink and recollect your thoughts before quickly following after.

"Soooo…" You started, accepting that you wouldn't be able to understand the Void and moving on. "There were a few times you tried speaking to me. Do you happen to remember what you said? It kinda was… well, gibberish on my end."

"Perhaps a warning. Like I have said, my memory is cloudy at best of my time in the Void. I do however recall being able to see possible futures, or perhaps pasts, that had greatly concerned me. For Sans' sake, of course." He mused, glancing towards his brother for a moment. "However I cannot recall those possibilities any longer. They were simply too numerous for anyone to possibly remember."

"Heh, you were trying to look out for me?" Sans asked, seeming amused. "And I thought you were just trying to make my life a living hell." He chuckled like it was a joke, Gaster didn't seem amused.

"Yes, well, you tended to be the only consistency in the Void. I did notice that you ignoring me or purposely trying to make me go away, but the Void is quite dull when you are alone." His voice was cold. "I am sure you would have done the same, little brother."

Sans didn't seem to have a response, so the quiet turned slightly tense as the three of you made your way close to the base of the hill. You could still see the crushed grass of cars parking along the road, and noticed a bus stop. Huh, you didn't really expect to see a bus stop out here, but then again this _was_ a tour location.

"Is Paps the youngest in your family?" You asked out of the blue, catching both of them off guard and snapping them out of the tension that was building. "I mean that would fit his personality-"

"No, Papyrus is the middle child." Gaster answered. "At least, if we are going by actual age. Sans should mentally be just about as old as I physically am due to the Resets, but that hardly counts for proper age." He explained for you, and that brought another question to rise.

"How old are you?"

Gaster glanced at you with an angled smile. "So curious, and with so many questions. Be careful dear, had I been a less kind monster, a question like that could get you in trouble." He chuckled slightly, dropping the suitcase besides the bench that was by the bus stop before walking around and sitting with a sigh. "What year is it again?"

"Twenty-seventeen." Sans replied, sitting closer to the other side. You assumed that meant you guys had to wait, and sat between them.

"Ah, then I should be three-hundred and seventy-six." Thank goodness you weren't drinking anything, else you would have spat everything out.

"W-what?!" You turned to look at him with wide eyes, your reaction seeming to startle him.

"What? Granted I am at the age other monsters would be already starting families, but if you haven't noticed I was preoccupied-" He started, but you shook you hear and waved your hands, cutting him off.

"Nonono, I mean… _What?!_ " You brought your hands to your brow, staring off in the distance as you tried to understand him correctly. "You mean… you were born in like the sixteen hundreds? Like, as in, over three hundred years ago?"

"Yes. I see you can do basic math." He said in a rather patronizing tone. "What are you so confused about?"

"Er… Dings… Humans don't have long lifespans." Sans said with an awkward laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. "Most are lucky enough to reach eighty if they are healthy." Now it was Gaster's turn to react.

"Excuse me?" He uttered, looking at Sans in shock.

"Wait wait, how old are you?" You turned to Sans, realizing it never occured for you to ask before. Sans' cheeks grew a light blue tint as he looked away, still rubbing the back of his neck.

"Heh… I uh… Would be coming up a hundred and twelve this y-"

" _WHAT._ " Your hands flew to your mouth, your mind flying off the rails in every direction. " _You're so old_." You whispered under your hands, still not quite believing it. "You guys are just messing with me, right? There's no chance you guys are _actually_ -"

"Sorry, Vertebae… I suppose I should have brought up that point a while ago. Monsters don't age like humans do." Sans put a hand on your leg, wearing an awkward smile with a hint of nervousness. "Monsters don't really keep track of their age for the most part. Once we reach adulthood we stop wearing stripes and that's that. I forgot that is sort of a big deal to humans…"

"How old are your parents?" You glanced at Gaster, realizing. "Oh my god, if you are over three hundred, your parents have to be even older than _that._ What if there's a family reunion?! What am I going to tell _my_ parents?!" You brought your hands to the sides of your face, imagining the awkward conversation taking place. You had a hard time picturing Sans' and Gaster's parents, figuring they were skeletons as well.

"Oh, you will not have to worry about that." Gaster said plainly.

"Huh? Why not?" You blinked. You tried thinking back, and suddenly realized that Sans never talked about his parents before. Did they not get along?

"Sans killed them long ago."


	47. Bus Day

"Woooow, Dings. Way to make it sound like I purposely _murdered_ them." Sans' voice soured with irritation. "After all this time you still act like I _asked_ to be born." He nearly snapped, his earlier mood gone in an instant. He crossed his arms and sat back onto the bench. Sans opened his mouth to say something else, but instead huffed between his teeth and looked down the road. The exchange left you shocked, looking between the two brothers, struggling to comprehend what Gaster meant.

Not wanting to spark a bigger argument, you tried to distract yourself by pulling the bag with Flowey onto your lap. You opened a zipper, trying to think of something to grab but your curiosity quickly got the better of you. "What… happened?" You asked quietly, loosing interest in the opened bag.

"Isn't it _obvious_?" Flowey piped up, his leaves wiggling slightly as he turned in the bottle to face you more. He gave a half laugh, eyes shining. "Everyone knows that having three children is committing _suicide_. Clearly they decided they'd rather _die_ than take care of the kids they already had-" You heard slight crinkling and immediately saw Flowey's bottle start compressing, and out of the corner of your eye you saw Gaster's hand clench. You gasped and grabbed Gaster's hand, stopping him from using any more magic. You looked up and gulped, seeing his orange haloes burrowing into your eyes at your interruption. You quickly averted your vision before you lost yourself again and looked over to Flowey's water bottle, seeing an orange glow surrounding it. Flowey had his mouth shut tight as he struggled to look down at the bottle with wide eyes.

"Flowey, say you're sorry." You quickly instruct, keeping your grip on Gaster's hand. Flowey's expression changed to a more neutral one.

"What? Why? They both know it's true-"

"Flowey, say you are sorry right _now_." You ordered, feeling Gaster's hand tighten just a fraction. The orange light surrounding the bottle brightened ever so slightly, and another kink appeared on the bottle. The slight crackle caught Flowey's attention once more, making him lose the neutral attitude.

"Fine, fine! I'm sorry!" He panicked, wiggling and failing to get out of the slowly compressing bottle. The orange light didn't go away, and you looked back at Gaster.

"Gaster." You made the mistake of looking into his eyes, and became trapped. The burning rings pulled at you, dragging the seconds by like minutes as reality stretched around them. A small voice in the back of your head was screaming to turn away, to blink, anything, but your muscles only relaxed as you stared transfixed at the magical flames and was pulled deeper in-

He blinked, and his eyes lost the magic that was keeping you hostage. You released the breath you didn't know you were holding, feeling your chest shaking ever so slightly from your racing heartbeat. You stayed frozen where you were, unable to get your thoughts straight, until Gaster's haloes glanced at the hand you had holding his. You quickly let go and sat up, pulling your hands together on your lap.

"S-sorry." You stumbled over the small apology. Gaster adjusted himself in his seat, looking rather annoyed with everything in general. The silence dragged the emptiness of where you were out, bringing the lack of morning birdsongs to your attention.

"The _weed_ is mistaken."

"Sorry?" You startled slightly when Gaster spoke up again.

"They did not commit suicide. I thought I should clarify, since you seem to take everything to heart." Gaster added, looking down the road as well. "Humans must be quite different with procreation. Is the practice of having more children not as costly for your kind?"

"N… Not really, well… Having kids costs a lot of money, and most families stick to one or two kids, though I know someone that is the youngest of six kids. But they live with their friends now to get out of the crowded house." You answered, and Gaster's brow bone elevated ever so slightly.

"Grand… parents? Interesting, though perhaps that would make sense. You live such short lives, perhaps being able to breed without any repercussions was to counter the likelihood of simply going extinct." He theorized aloud.

"You guys aren't the same way, I take it." You half asked, suddenly remembering back when you chatted with Flowey so long ago under the willow, how he told you that monsters only aged when they had kids. He didn't expand that though, and you guess it never really registered in your head what exactly that meant. Sans sighed, seeming like he would much rather get this conversation over with. He quickly pulled out his phone, tapping on a doodling app.

"When monsters have a kid, the kid takes some of their Soul energy." Sans started to explain, drawing an upside down heart on the screen with the grey ink. "When they age, more of that energy goes to the kid so they can grow. Because of that, the parents age as well. Real age has no meaning to our Souls or, by extension, our bodies." He made a smaller upside down heart off to the side, before making it bigger, and shrinking down the original heart. "A hundred year-old monster with a kid would look ages older than a four hundred year-old monster without kids, so our looks aren't exactly a good judge for ages."

"But if the kid dies before the parents do, the parents stop losing their magic and... stop aging." Flowey added in, surprising you. So that's why Toriel and Asgore looked slightly older than the average monster…

You thought about what they said, starting to understand what Gaster meant by Sans killing their parents. "So… If two monsters have a child and let it age enough to turn into an adult…?"

"They would age, but be overall they would be fine. A single child is not enough to dust two monsters, otherwise we as a species would have died out long ago. At most, two children becoming adults is the usual circumstance of the parents' dusting, but they likely would survive a few years more depending on the strain on their bodies. Healthy monsters would be able to have two children reach adulthood and have time to be a family for some time before they could no longer keep themselves together." Gaster said, and you saw him glance towards Sans. "However, if they create a third child… Well, you cannot make something new when you already ran out of supplies, can you?"

"It's why I'm short." Sans wasn't looking at you, but you could see the drawing on his phone had the original heart crossed out, with two hearts next to it, and a single dot under them. "They didn't have enough magic left for another full monster, let alone enough to give them a decent amount of HOPE."

Gaster's frown grew ever so slightly. "You should consider yourself lucky both you and Papyrus survived and managed to grow despite their dusting. They were incredibly powerful monsters, but even that was not enough to keep them from passing."

"I'm so… so sorry." You felt bad for making them have the monster's version of 'the talk' with you now. You had no idea monsters having children was such a big deal. Or how magic could transfer from one to another. Or how old monsters could get without it affecting them- In fact, for living very closely with monsters for the past few weeks and being around them on the surface for the past few months… You had significantly less knowledge than you thought you had about them.

"I never knew them, so it's not a big deal to me." Sans said, shrugging and looking down the road again. "It's him who has any solid memory of a mom or dad. He lived with them for decades; Paps had them for what… six years? I didn't even get that. It's what happens to monsters."

"Still, I'm so sorry I brought it up, I had no idea." You apologized again, looking at your hands unsure. You glanced at Gaster, and saw him observing you quietly with his mouth in a tight line. His haloes shifted and looked past you, and you turned to see a bus heading in your direction.

"Looks like our ride is almost here," Sans clicked his phone to the home screen, seeing the time. "A little late, but it's fine." He stood up and avoided looking at you. You put the bag down and stood up as well, a heavy feeling in your gut.

"Sans, I-"

"Let's drop it. We need to get back to the others." He interrupted, turning around just long enough to zip up the bag and pick it up, so quickly it made Flowey do a little "ooph" sound. You felt Gaster's hand rest on your shoulders, and you looked up at him.

"Best do what he says." Gaster hushed, giving you a slight pat before picking up the other bag, and the three of you watched as the bus crossed the road and turned into the small bus stop.

The squeak of the break hurt your ears as the bus finally came to a complete stop, the smell of bad gasoline carrying itself to where you guys were. You let out a small cough, covering your mouth and nose. A few humans scrambled out of the bus, along with a few kids, and a tall woman in a blue outfit held a sign up saying "Follow me!" stepped out behind them. She was wearing a massive smile, though it vanished when she saw you and the brothers.

"Wha- Oh, hello there! There shouldn't be any tours ending at this time…" It was pretty clear she was confused about your situation, but she tried forcing another smile on her face. You felt a tight hand on your shoulder, but was too focused on trying to come up with a response to the woman.

"We're locals." Sans spoke up beside you, voice giving no hint of the distressing conversation you three had moments ago. "Figured we could catch the bus back to town, if it wasn't too much of a hassle?" He asked, and the woman immediately started nodding.

"Why yes of course! No charge for locals, obviously!" She smiled, and Sans gave a quick nod. The woman looked behind you, seeming like she was concerned about something, but she noticed her tourists were starting to wander and quickly ran after them. "Oh! Please keep together! Follow me now please!"

As the woman walked away you became aware of how tightly Gaster was holding onto your shoulder. You glanced back and had to suppress your jump. Gaster was absolutely seething right now. So much so, you could practically feel the anger radiating from him. …Where those bubbles in his suit?

"Are you okay?" You whispered, snapping Gaster back to reality. His frown lessened and he looked down at you, but he still was looking like he was smelling something unpleasant despite not really having a nose.

"Just peachy." He uttered, jerking his head towards the bus and pushing you gently. You took the hint and led the skeleton brothers to the doors. The bus driver flipped up his shades to glance at you, slight smile on his face

"Heading to the city?" He asked in a strangely accented voice. You couldn't place it.

"Yes please." You replied. He waved a hand at you and you quickly stepped up and moved down the aisles. Gaster and Sans were close behind, following you close to the back. You allowed Gaster the window seat, sitting in the middle while Sans took the inside. Before the three of you even sat down the bus was in motion again, turning and heading towards home.

The bus was fancier than you were used to, it even had a few small tvs on the ceiling. It looked like it was currently on a news show, four humans in suits and dresses sitting around a strangely shaped table talking to each other. The sound wasn't playing, but you could see the small white words at the bottom of the screen come and go quickly.

Gaster took a loud breath, drawing your attention from the tv. His hands were in fists sitting on his knees, and he was wearing a permanent frown.

"What's wrong?" You asked. His eyes were focused on the other humans on the bus sitting in front of you, most of them on their phone or reading a book. He glanced at you for a moment, adjusting his shoulders and taking another breath.

"Absolutely nothing." He half muttered through clenched teeth, not quite selling what he was saying.

"No, something is up. What's-" You started to ask, but you saw Sans shake his head out of the corner of his eye. You turned to him for an explanation.

"Big G probably isn't used to the thought of not slaughtering humans," Sans rolled his eyelights as if what he said was a casual conversation piece. "Isn't he?" He added sarcastically, leaning forward to look at Gaster.

Gaster's fingers tapped on his knees rapidly for a moment, jaw adjusting ever so slightly. He looked indecisive on how to respond to that. "I am sure you would be less comfortable in this situation, had you been raised as I had been." He said carefully, eyes focusing past you. "Though perhaps I have the right idea about a few of them." He jerked his chin in the direction he was looking, and you turned to see the news still on the tv. A picture of Mettaton was beside one of the men talking, followed by a heavily pixelated video.

Two girls looked to be taking a selfie in the streets of downtown at night, laughing and saying something excitedly before turning the camera around, showing Mettaton a bit ahead of them surrounded by fans. There was a flash of light and the camera shook as the crowd reacted to something, followed by another flash. One of the fans collapsed onto the ground, the rest scattered as masked men came out of nowhere, grabbing Mettaton. The rest of the video was a blurry mess as the camera owner seemed to run away from the chaos.

The camera changed back to the man and the image of Mettaton, white words appearing under him.

[This was the scene of last night, after Metatton's daily show. Three fans were seriously injured and police have yet to locate where the TV star Mettaton might be located. Please call the number on screen if you know any more information-]

You had your hands pressed to your mouth, shocked at what happened. Sans didn't give you the details- he might not have known himself, but you didn't know it happened right off of the street. Sans shook his head and clenched a fist.

"I… don't know what we can do," he looked at you. "We know it was HP, but the _weed_ wrecked the only bar that publicly supported HP members." Sans glared at Flowey, who looked away.

"You think it's revenge for wrecking that guy's face?" You asked, painful memories sparking back to life of an alternate universe where you and Sans died at the anger of the leader.

"He's probably using that as an excuse, yeah." Sans thought a bit before mumbling. "Even if we find where Metatton is, it's not like we can march in there and ask him nicely to be released. There isn't any way for this to go down without dust being spilled…"

"We'll figure something out." You said, but you weren't entirely sure if you believed yourself.

.

The bus ride was long, though eventually you found yourself being shaken awake.

"Our stop." Sans whispered, gently shaking you off his shoulder. You quickly sit up and grab one of the bags, following Sans off of the bus. Before you even had the chance to look around to see where you were, long bony arms wrapped around you and lifted you up, squeezing tightly.

"HUMAN!" Papyrus yelled as he spun around, effectively making you quite dizzy.

"Papyrus!" You tried to imitate his volume, letting yourself be a ragdoll in his arms until he set you down. You took a moment to keep your balance, and looked him over. "How are you doing buddy?" You asked, seeing he was wearing casual clothes, rather than his battle armor.

"Physically I am doing quite well. Emotionally I am very much scared for Mettaton's life. So you know. _That_." He awkwardly said, not entirely sure what else he was supposed to say in this kind of situation. You nod, relieved that he was still Papyrus even with all of the stress, if a bit more sobering. "Who is your new friend?"

You turned to see who Papyrus was referring to, seeing Gaster. Gaster's mouth opened slightly, and a hint of disappointment made its way to his eyes. "Just… a friend." He said quietly, keeping his distance from everyone.

"Well all help is appreciated," Alphy's voice startled you, and you saw her and Undyne close to the bus stop as well. "We've been looking for leads all morning, but we think we might have just found one." She was nerviously knotting her hands together, as usual.

"Yeah? What is it?" Sans asked, interested in why they didn't update him sooner.

"Probably best if you see it yourself." Undyne said, motioning everyone down the sidewalk. The six of you walked for awhile, and you recognized you were pretty close to home. In fact, you guys were heading in that direction.

After a little while of walking, you saw why.

Your apartment was absolutely trashed.


	48. Plan Day

You stood staring at the destruction of your apartment, thoughts drawing a blank on what exactly you should be feeling at the moment.

"Alphys?"

"Y-yes?" Alphys stepped beside you, looking between you and your home quickly.

"You guys took Samus to your place right?" You asked, finding yourself only able to place concern for your snake.

"Yes. S-she is in our living room." She confirmed. You nodded, sighed, and stepped over the busted door into your apartment.

You looked at your burnt couch, shattered tv, broken table… And knelt onto the floor. There was a faint smell of chemicals hanging in the air, probably what was used to burn your couch- you were surprised the entire building wasn't gone if they set fire to something…

"You okay?" Sans asked from behind you. You gave a very long sigh and placed your head in your hands, suddenly very, very tired.

"Yep," You flatly said. "I have no idea what my insurance will cover." You muttered as an afterthought. You didn't even want to see what they did to the other rooms.

"I'll call the police, just... take a moment." Sans gave you a pat on the back, before walking down the hall and pulling out his phone.

You rubbed at your growing headache, and looked back to see the other monsters clustered around the busted door, looking around but not stepping in. You sighed, stood up, and pushed some shattered glass with your shoe. You were half heartedly trying to clear a section of floor for you to sit down before you accepted that it probably wasn't a good idea at the moment- unless you wanted some glass in your ass. You shook your head and continued kicking a small path clear in the living room, not really leading anywhere but your mind was too blank to focus on anything at the moment.

You brushed away part of your table, and noticed a small black card on the ground. It seemed clean despite being under the mess, and you realized it was a laminated business card. You felt your eyebrows lower, and you picked it up.

On the back you could see a silver map of part of the city, downtown, you realized, with an address on the bottom. You turned it over to see its front, seeing a stylized [M-M] fake burnt on it like a brand, and "Man-Made" next to it. No phone number, no clarification.

"You find something, human?" Undyne asked, finally stepping into the room.

"What's 'Man-Made'?" You asked, turning and showing her the card. Papyrus spoke up despite not being in the room.

"I believe it is when you humans make something, you put a little label on-"

"No Paps," You cut him off. "I-... I appreciate it, but I mean like, is there a place called Man-Made or…?" Undyne looked at the card, frown growing slightly.

"Don't know of any place called that, but we can look it up when we get back to our place." She shook her head. "I have a feeling they aren't very monster friendly though, if they are recent."

"May I?" Gaster startled you and Undyne, suddenly appearing beside you. Undyne looked back to the entryway and back at Gaster as if trying to figure out how he moved so quickly. You were already used to his teleporting, for the most part, and recovered quickly.

"Sure." You held out the card to him between two fingers, and he quickly examined the card closely. He turned it around, eyes slightly narrowing at the map.

"This is a high quality card, it would not belong to a simple business." He reasoned, explaining out loud probably for your benefit. "However the silver on black is of atrocious taste. It is simply bad color scheme choice. Unless, of course, you were in a place with artificial lighting, then it would be understandable." He offered the card back to you. "Someplace expensive, someplace without natural light."

You thought about it, mind tripping on what it could be. Then you realized you two were honestly critiquing a business card while standing in your ruined home. Maybe you should focus more on the… situation at hand. "Thanks." You sighed and tucked the card in your pocket.

You heard a door close, and Sans walked from the hallway a moment later.

"So...?" You asked, watching as he scratched the back of his head and looked away from you.

"The police are busy, but they'll send someone over here once they have the time..."

"Really." You deadpanned. "They can't- My home is-! They- they honestly can't send _anyone_?" Anger started boiling your blood, not at Sans, but your voice rose a little. You sharply inhaled and placed your face in your hands again, trying to put a cap on your anger.

"I know- I know. I'm sorry, I tried getting through to them but it seems like there is a lot going on around town." Sans sighed, and motioned to the others. "Lets… Lets just get to Alphys and Undyne's place and figure out what to do." You nodded, so very, very tired of everything.

.

Your headache wasn't going away.

The walk to Alphys and Undyne's place was annoyingly long, and seemed to drag out more than you would care. Sans seemed to notice how quiet you were, and offered his hand to you while you walked. You accepted it, and his thumb rubbed small circles on your hand to try and comfort you. You appreciated the effort, but what you really needed was a nap.

You've never been to Alphys and Undyne's before, you realized as you stepped into their apartment. It looked almost the same size as yours, but with a different layout and smaller kitchen. There was various anime posters around, along with shelves of figures as well as a couple swords. It looked more lived-in than your pre-destroyed apartment, before the monsters moved in at least. You couldn't help but to notice Gaster silently staring at the the mess piled in the corners and the trash that was kicked under the futon. You weren't going to say anything about it.

"M-make yourself at home. I'll gra-grab the laptop for you." Alphys said, quickly shuffling past the living room and leaving the rest of you at the entry. Undyne and Papyrus made their way to the kitchen, and you, Sans, and Gaster sat on the futon against the wall. It was an older model, you realized, feeling one of the support beams uncomfortably under the thin cushion. You shifted your weight and let your head rest back, though you apparently were slightly too tall to let it completely rest against the back of the seat.

Sans pat your thigh to get your attention as Alphys walked back in with her laptop, and held it out for you. You grabbed it and opened it, noticing that it seemed like it was self repared in a few places, and a few keys didn't quite match the rest of the keyboard. Did she get this out of a dump?

"W-well, yes." Alphys answered, shocking you. "I got attached to it in the underground and have lots of… Human history, saved already on it."

"Oh shit, I didn't mean to say that out loud. Sorry." You put a hand to your mouth, eyes wide. You must be more tired than you thought.

"It's… Okay. I mean, you aren't w-wrong." Alphys's hands knotted into themselves before she walked over to Undyne and Papyrus. Sans chuckled quietly beside you.

You rubbed your eyes trying to brush the sleep away, along with the still growing headache. It didn't work, but you tapped the laptop awake anyway. You pulled the card out of your pocket to look it up, getting Sans attention.

"Where'd you get that?" He asked.

"It was at my apartment. Thought it might be a clue." You quietly typed in 'Man-Made' onto the search engine, seeing the definition pop up as the first few dozen results. You hummed, disgruntled, and clicked on the maps tab. It took a moment to load, the few seconds dragging out as the front of your head ached ever so slightly stronger.

"Are you doing something?" You snapped, looking at Gaster. You caught him completely off guard, and actually managed to make him startle ever so slightly.

"Am I… What? No." His eye halos looked you over before his brow rose in confusion.

You bit the inside of your cheek and shook your head, looking back at the computer.

"May I ask, why?" He asked anyway.

"I am having like, the worst headache right now. Sorry, didn't mean to accuse you." You quickly said, voice not as harsh as the outburst. The maps finally loaded, and a red dot appeared in the downtown area.

"You associate me with pains in your head?" Gaster leaned forward, still looking at you.

"Kinda, yeah." You shrugged. "Static, numbness, and headaches-etc." Out of the corner of your eyes you saw Gaster's shoulders drop ever so slightly before he sat back again. You turned the card around and held it up to the gps result, seeing that it was the same location as the silver map. It took a few tries to get the little circle thing in the middle of the keyboard to move the mouse to the dot and click, but when it finally did a little side window popped up with the location's info.

"A bar?" Sans was looking at the result as well.

"Looks like it." You clicked through the images, seeing that it indeed looked like a bar, or some sort of club. It didn't open till around sundown, but there still was no number available to call. "What kind of place doesn't have a phone?" You mumbled.

"Maybe we could just drop by, see what connections it has to your apartment." Sans suggested, but you shook your head and clicked to another picture of the establishment. A large sign hung in the window, declaring 'NO COVER CHARGE' in proud bold text. Below it, and just as proud, was the words 'NO MONSTERS'.

"You guys won't be allowed in- unless you just teleport in there." You thought aloud.

"We have discussed this previously." Gaster said softly. "We cannot teleport to someplace we have not been- or at the very least seen in person. Our magic simply does not have enough information to relocate us. Besides, teleporting to someplace you are unfamiliar with is dangerous enough. You might lose a limb." Oh yeah.

"Right…" You looked down at your hands.

"Though perhaps, I could assist with my current… condition." Gaster added. Both you and Sans turned to look at him.

"What do you mean?" Sans asked, keeping his voice low. You glanced back at the kitchen, seeing Paps still busy making something with the others. The clanging of pots and lids and boiling water seemed to be just enough noise to hide your current conversation safely.

"Human, you remember how we managed to separate the Weed from my brother?" Gaster raised a hand and leaned back, crossing a leg over the other.

"You guys do know my name is Flowey, right?" A quiet voice asked from the other side of the room, from your pile of bags. You completely forgot that Flowey was with you, he'd been keeping so quiet for so long.

"When you turned Sans into the giant bone dog?" You asked, ignoring what Flowey said.

"No, before that." Gaster waved his holed hand slightly. "We had used your shadow as a secretive way of transport, remember? I could simply hide myself though you, and once we are in the clear I could teleport my brother in- if needed, of course." He smiled, proud of his plan. You thought about it, shrugging. You looked to Sans, and he nodded.

"Seems like the best option we have." Sans said.

"Then it's a plan." You closed the laptop.

A little bit of movement caught your attention, and you noticed a brown long creature in a glass tank on the other side of the room. "Samus!" You shouted louder than you intended, and ran over to her.

"Oh my precious baby! How are you, sweet thing?" You asked her as you popped off the lid to her tank and grabbed her. Her tongue flicked out and she let herself be pulled up without any resistance. You ran your hand over her beautiful scales, feeling like she got a little bigger- as unlikely as it would be. You heard creaking from the futon, and you turned to see Gaster standing on it, looking at the snake.

"What in the world is _that_?" He demanded, and at the same time both you and Sans burst out into laughter. Brother like brother, it looked like.

.

After a small attempt of getting Gaster adjusted to Samus, (which strangely, she acted like he didn't exist and only seemed to want Sans) Papyrus announced dinner was ready. You placed Samus back in her tank, and shortly after eating, the three of you said goodnight to the others. Paps, Undyne, and Alphys didn't know about about the plan. Far as they knew, you three were going to share the small futon for tonight.

"Night human! See you in the morning!" Papyrus gave you a tight hug before going to a bedroom separate to the one Undyne and Alphys were sleeping in. You waved him night as he closed the door, and slowly exhaled.

"Okay. How are we getting there?" You asked, turning to the others. You found it hard to concentrate with your headache ringing in your head. "No offence, I don't want to be walking around in the dark."

Sans shook his head. "Mettaton usually takes a limo to the stage, so his car should be out front." He walked over to the coat rack, seeing keys hanging off of one of the holders.

"Sounds good." Even though the thought of using Mettaton's car in this situation did make you a little uncomfortable. You walked around the room, taking a deep breath and thinking the plan over though your head again to calm your nerves.

"Okay so we get over there…" You mumbled while tapping a finger, visualizing the steps one by one. "Gaster hides in my shadow." Tap. "Get in, find out what's the deal." Tap, tap. "Find a hidden place to let Gaster out of my shadow. Gaster teleports to Sans- HIC!"

The hiccup completely disrupted your thoughts, causing you to pause in your steps and gather yourself for a moment. You blinked, and looked at Gaster and Sans, who were standing close to the doorway and looking at you with concerned faces.

"Oh… Sorry, lost my train of thought." You shook your head, and realized your headache vanished. Your mouth opened without your permission for another hiccup, so strong you almost had to take a step back. "Wow those came out of nowhere." You commented, feeling rather confused on the hiccups. Another one came, quieter than the last ones, but still just as shocking.

Gaster and Sans looked at each other, seeming to say something through their eyes alone.

"Should we-" Gaster started, but Sans quickly turned to the door.

"Come on, let's get going. We have a night club to shine some light on." He opened the door for you and Gaster, and the three of you headed out in the night.

You guys found Mettaton's car fast enough, and climbed in. Sans took the driver's seat, you behind him and Gaster in the back on the right. You could tell Gaster was trying not to look so obviously bewildered by the car, now that he was able to look at one closely, and he mostly just mirrored whatever you did.

"I didn't know you can drive." You half asked, followed by another quiet hiccup. You buckled yourself, and noticed Gaster watched your movements carefully before he did the same with his own buckle. The strap of fabric seemed to confuse him, but he didn't question it.

"I'm not the best." Sans admitted, adjusting his seat forward and putting the gear into drive.

The drive through town was mostly quiet, you just leaned against the window and watched the lights pass by the car one after another in the darkness. Sans tended to hit the break a little too hard for stoplights and stop signs, but thankfully there wasn't much traffic to worry about anyway. Your mind started to wander, letting the sounds of the drive lull your thoughts as your eyes drifted from person to person on the sidewalks.

A flash of purple caught your attention outside.

You blinked, tilting your head to better see what the purple was. It looked like a purple light, wait no… a thread, hanging across the road. Your eyebrows knitted together, confused at why there would be a glowing thread. Sans didn't seem to notice it, driving right into it- or apparently _through_ it.

The purple thread passed right through the glass, metal, Sans, and the chair like it was nothing but a ghost. You reflexively reached up in front of yourself, catching the purple thread-

"-recall you reading something by an Einstein describing exactly this?" Gaster wildly motioned to the left of you as if he was half way though an argument. Wait, weren't you on the left side? You looked out the window to the right of you, remembering being on the other side of the car, and looked back at him confused. "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? Do tell me you have- … Human, what is wrong?" He asked, his voice shifting and echoing unnaturally. Your vision swam as the noise grew in volume around you.

"I…" You felt light headed as the world seemed to spin slightly.

"Vertebae?" Sans asked quietly, voice echoing despite the volume. You blinked and shook your head, trying to make sense of what was going on. You felt your heart racing, and your stomach tighten.

"What…" You opened your hand, and everything was back to normal. You were in the left seat, Gaster was calmly looking out of the window on the right side. No conversation was being made.

"Pull over." You grabbed Sans' shoulder from behind, putting your other hand to your mouth.

"What? Right now? We-" He asked, but your grip tightened and you leaned forward, trying to keep your breathing steady. You felt the car veer over and slow down, and you immediately unbuckled and stepped out of the almost-stopped car onto the median strip, and promptly vomited.

"What happened?" Gaster asked, appearing behind you quickly. You were breathing hard with your hands on your knees, but the wave of nausea seemed to have completely vanished. Sans was slower to get out of the car, parking it horribly on the median. Luckily this must have been perfect timing, since these streets were mostly clear of other cars at the moment.

"I touched… I touched a purple thread." You said, swallowing and shaking your head.

"Here?" Sans asked, confusion heavy in his voice.

"It… was in the middle of the road, you drove right through it." You took a moment, before slowly standing up. Gaster's eyes trailed around, frowning slightly.

"Now, that cannot be a good sign." He said. Sans nodded in agreement.

"Are you okay or…?" He stepped up to you, silently offering to revise the plan. You shook your head.

"I'm okay now… Just really, really confused." You motioned to the car. "Come on, let's keep moving before we attract any attention." You quickly said and headed towards the car, though the brothers were less sure about your decision.

They got into the car and buckled up, but Sans took a moment to look back at you. "Are you sure you're okay?"

You nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. The… whatever that was… must have just passed through me. It's like it never happened." You confirmed, and Sans thought a moment before pulling off of the median.

"Maybe to you… but your breath probably isn't going to be the best. Hey bro." Sans got the attention of Gaster. "Look around below the seats real quick, see if you can find any alcohol." Gaster nodded and looked, but you stared at Sans with wide eyes.

"What?"

"The bouncer isn't going to like the smell of vomit, but alcohol they'd be used to." He reasoned, and you figured he was right. Gaster eventually found a bottle of Rumple Minze, and he passed it to you.

"... Why would a robot have alcohol?" You asked, taking the bottle and giving it a look.

"He likes the aesthetic." Sans half laughed, looking at you through the mirror. He saw you hesitate. "Just enough to mask the smell. I know you aren't that much of a lightweight." He tried lighting the mood. You nodded, and took a swig from the bottle- and immediately used all of your willpower to not spit out the peppermint flavored liquor.

You struggled to swallow it, and immediately stuck out your tongue and made a face. If Metatton had an aesthetic he could at least make it a good tasting one. "It tastes like bad mouthwash." You said with a heavy frown. Sans laughed a little, and even Gaster had a slight chuckle at your displeasure. You rubbed your tongue against your teeth, trying to lift the taste away.

After a little longer of driving, Sans started to slow down.

"Looks like this is the place." Sans said, pulling over to a building you've never seen before. You could feel the bass of the music through the closed door, and see the flashing lights through the tall windows.

Two large guys standing in the entrance were wearing dark shirts with the [M-M] logo on it, yelling at a human and monster couple that looked like they were trying to get in. One of the men pointed to the 'NO MONSTERS' sign, and the couple finally left.

"... Yeah, looks like it." You swallowed, still tasting the mint alcohol on your tongue.

"I'll be across the road, if you guys need me. Just grab me when you can." Sans pointed to the other side of the road, and Gaster examined the sidewalk a bit before nodding.

"You know where I will be." Gaster gave a slight bow to you while sitting, and promptly melted away into the darkness of the car.

You took a moment, looking at the bar. You really didn't want to go in there. You really didn't.

But you needed to know.

You stepped out of the car, and towards the music.


	49. Club Day

(Sorry for the problems. Should be fixed now.)

You stepped onto the sidewalk and glanced back, seeing Sans watching you nervously. A car honked behind him, making him jump slightly in the seat. You give him a quick wave and he drove off, leaving you in front of the club on your own. Well, Gaster was in your shadow, but you sure felt like you were on your own.

No turning back now.

You faced Man-Made again, quickly tucking your doubts to the back of your head, and stepped towards the door, and the bouncers stepped in your path.

They crossed their arms and looked down at you, and you suddenly noticed how very tall they were compared to you. You also realized that you were wearing your casual clothing- nothing you would associate with clubbing.

"I'm meeting some friends here." You spoke up, somehow able to keep your voice stable. One of the guys raised an eyebrow at that.

"ID." The other spoke. Holes in your plan were appearing faster than you thought.

"Uh-" You blinked. You quickly recovered, patting your pockets quickly more for show than anything else. "I must have forgot it…" You raised your hands in an attempt of a shrug, and both of the bouncers immediately grabbed your arms.

You had a moment of pure terror, before both of them flicked the cap off of a sharpie, and marking fat black X's on the back of your hands.

"No ID, no drinks." The other guy said, and both of them released you before stepping out from the doorway, giving you space to enter.

"R-right. Thank you." You tried to keep your heart from racing right out of your chest, and taking your first steps into the building.

The doorway somehow kept most of the noise from escaping the club, but soon as you were in the volume of the place increased drastically. It was almost uncomfortably loud in here- though it was a lot smaller than you thought. In fact, it didn't match the pictures on google at all. You looked around the average sized room, seeing four tall round tables surrounded by fancy stools, a single bar, and two bartenders. Less than a dozen people were in here, some bobbing to the music but a majority seemed to just be standing and talking quite loudly to each other.

A small group of people walked in from the corner of the room, and you realized it was a partially disguised entryway for the rest of the club. Acting as casual as you could, you made your way to the corner of the room, and felt yourself inhale when you saw the next part of the bar.

It was utterly massive.

It had to be at least eight times bigger than the first room, complete with a lowered dance floor, flashing lights, multiple couches, low tables, and TVs lining the walls. There was a huge bar on the far wall with three more bartenders, and dozens of people here all dancing their brains out with varying skill levels. A song was playing that you haven't heard before, and while it seemed catchy, you didn't know it would be this popular with the dance floor.

 _Little Fly, Thy summer's play  
My thoughtless hand has brushed away._

 _Am not I a fly like thee?  
Or art not thou a man like me?_

 _For I dance and drink, and sing.  
Till some blind hand shall brush my wing.  
If thought is life and strength and breath  
And the want of thought is death;_

 _Then am I a happy fly,  
If I live or if I die._

 _Then am I a happy fly.  
If I live, or if I die._

Someone stumbled past you to get onto the dance floor and spilt some fruity alcohol onto your foot, though they didn't seem to notice and walk right through the middle of the dance floor. A couple other girls saw the drinks and cheered loudly. The coldness seeped through your shoe, acting as a quick reminder that you were here to do a task, not gawk at the dance floor.

You started walking along the raised walkway around the dance floor, trying to look for any clues to what this place had to do with your apartment. No one here was wearing any HP patches… though you did notice a lot of [M-M] logos everywhere, some people even wore jewelry of the logo. You noticed along the walls there were two staircases on opposite sides, one with a standard bathroom sign pointing up, the other with a door blocking the narrow stairway a few steps up. You kept walking around till you were on the other side of the dance floor, and saw some wide stairs leading down.

Looking past the stairs, you saw that they went down just enough to have two wide openings on both sides, before the stairs went up again and led to what looked like another entryway of the club. You quietly (not that it really mattered, with the booming music and all) stepped down to the lower floor, seeing on the left side was another smaller bar with a single bartender and a couple of tables, and on the right side was a small room with a pool table with a group of guys surrounding it and laughing loud enough to be heard over the music. Figuring you weren't going to get any answers here, you turned to go back up to the dance room.

"-and like I said, the dent in the hood was totally worth it! You should have seen the dust just fill the air!" You froze, hearing one of the guy's voices loudly brag to the others. You peeked back into the room, seeing it was the one with blonde hair in the stereotype douche haircut that was talking. "Those monsters should know the law! If the walk signal was at twenty seconds already, you aren't suppose to cross the road! I was just enforcing the law!" The others laughed loudly at that, as if it was a hilarious joke and not about murdering a monster.

Your jaw tightened, along with your fists, and you turned to walk into the room. You felt pulled back, and when you looked you saw a holed pale hand wrapped tightly around your arm, darkness extending from your harsh shadow against the wall.

"They are not worth it." Gaster's voice whispered, yet somehow loud enough to be heard over the music.

"Didn't you hear him?" You said in a hushed tone back to the shadow, assuming volume wasn't important.

"I did. We are here for a reason, or have you forgotten? If you fight them now, not only will you not prove anything to them, but you will compromise our plan as well. It is worth noting that there are _five_ of them and only _one_ of you. You throw a punch at them, you _will_ lose. You will be kicked out of this establishment, presumably in a worse state." He paused. "Your safety should come first, no matter the insult." Gaster reasoned, keeping his grip on you tight. You let his words settle in his mind, before relaxing your fists. He let go, and his hand vanished in the shadow. "Smart choice."

You nodded, gritting your teeth at the fact he was right. As much as you wanted to pick a fight, there was no chance of you winning, or even changing their thoughts. Doesn't mean they don't deserve a punch to the face. You were about to leave back up to the dance floor, before you noticed a mostly empty beer bottle sitting on the lowest stair by your foot. Before Gaster could realize what you were doing, you quickly grabbed the bottle and hurled it at the douche's head.

You were already running up the stairs by the time you heard crashing sound, which was quickly followed by some swears. "Less smart of a choice." You heard Gaster's voice whisper as you quickly side stepped between a group of people and hopped down onto the dance floor, immediately dancing to the current playing song as best as you could without paying attention to what song it was. A moment passed, and the guys rushed up from the stairs and looked around, but they didn't know who they were suppose to look for. You felt a small smile creep onto your face when they shrugged and argued at each other, eventually turning back to the stairs. The douche rubbed his jaw line. It wasn't bleeding or anything, so in your head it was the equivalent to a punch. Good.

You kept dancing for another few moments, wanting to make yourself seem casual as possible in case the guys came back. After a while, you didn't see the guys, but you did see someone with a jean jacket and a HP patch walk along side of the dance floor, followed by another guy with a [M-M] black logo shirt. The two of them walked up the the little stairway that had the door, and the guy with the logo shirt unlocked it for the HP person, locking it behind them and standing against the wall with his arms crossed.

"We might have luck up there." You mumbled. "Though we need a key…"

"Bump into the guard." Gaster instructed.

"For a distraction?" You asked to clarify, slowly dancing your way across the floor.

"Just a small one."

You nodded, stepping back up on the normal floor and looking around for the best way to do it. You pat your sides, and felt the familiar rectangle of your lighter, but you didn't think that was probably the smartest idea at the moment. Slightly sighing to yourself, you decided to keep up the poor dancing, slowly making your way over to the guard. Once you were close enough, you "lost your balance" and bumped into him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" You quickly exclaimed, standing straight and acting embarrassed. The man smiled at you, shaking his head.

"'Ain't no problem. No harm done! Just try to keep the dancing to the dance floor, if you don't mind." He motioned to the lowered floor, and you quickly nodded.

"Thank you, and sorry again!" You added, quickly stepping down to the dance floor again, and started dancing in the crowd once more.

"You are quite the actor." Gaster whispered a quick compliment, and you suddenly felt more weight in your pocket. You pat it from the outside, and felt the lump of a few keys in it. You couldn't believe that worked. Now just to wait until you guys could get to the door without raising suspicion…

Turns out, that opportunity came quicker than you thought. It wasn't even a full minute before the guard put a finger to his ear, listened to something, before walking towards the front of the club. Not wanting to waste the chance, you quickly made your way to the door.

"Talk about good luck." You mumbled to Gaster as you scrambled to find the key that fit the door.

"There is no such thing as luck." Gaster replied plainly, voice untrusting of the turn of events. Third key try was the fit, and you quickly opened the door and went up the stairs, locking the door behind you.

Behind the door was more narrow steps up, and once you got to the top the area opened up again, revealing that this was the area above the dance floor where the DJ and the light controls were. There were a few people sitting further in the room, deep in conversation, along with an older man DJing, completely involved with the music and looking over the dancers to notice you. You snuck past him and the others, seeing yet another stairway up.

The top of the stairs led up to a wide hallway with flickering fluorescent lighting. If it wasn't for the bass of the music seeping in from below, you could have guessed this was just some sort of business office.

"Maybe you should grab Sans now…" You whispered, seeing doors up ahead along the sides of the hallway.

"Excellent idea. I will be right back. Do not move an inch." He instructed, and you felt almost like gravity got ever so slightly lighter around you. A couple moments later, Gaster and Sans appeared beside you. Sans immediately hugged you before taking a step back.

"You sure were taking your time." He half joked, but you could see his eyes looking around just slightly faster than usual.

"I had no idea what to expect." You said, shrugging slightly. "I still don't know what's ahead. Far as I could tell this is just a xenophobic dance club, and we are totally trespassing right now man."

Gaster chuckled at that.

"Oh this is quite the xenophobic establishment, that is certain. Can you not smell it?" Gaster looked down at you questionably.

"Smell...?" You questioned. Gaster's eyes lowered slightly before he glanced back towards the hallway.

" _Love_." Sans clarified in a tone that made it clear he wasn't talking about the fluffy feeling in your gut. "This place reeks of dust." You didn't know what they were talking about, it smelt like any other building you've been in, though maybe more alcohol hanging in the air than usual.

"I do believe we have company." Gaster announced quietly, taking a step to the side. You saw two men talking to each other walk out of one of the rooms, before suddenly noticing you three.

"Ay what the fuck! How'd those monsters get in 'ere?" One of them yelled, the other quickly taking a step back and grabbing for something tucked in the back of his pants.

"Gun." Gaster warned, vanishing and appearing behind the two men instantly. The one reaching for the gun was kicked towards you, his pistol skittering to the floor. The other one swiped at Gaster, a flash of silver catching your eye. Knife.

"Gaster, watch it!" You shouted- only to see a bone materialize and hit the knife wielder square in the gut. Sans stepped forward, motioning and sending another bone at the man to knock the knife out of his hand. The man fell backwards into the room he came out of, and you managed to see two more people in patched jean jackets in the room, abruptly standing from the table they must have been having some sort of meeting in.

"Keep back!" Sans warned you before stepping forward to make more bones, distracting one of the men as Gaster gracefully stepped into the room and blocked your view.

You heard a groan, and saw the man that originally had the gun picking himself up off of the ground. He spotted the pistol between the two of you, and scrambled towards it. You panicked, kicking the gun to the side out of his reach, and grabbed it before he could. You pointed it at his head, and he froze.

Your hands shook, realizing you were pointing an actual gun at a man.

His eyes flickered past you for a moment before he smiled, and slowly sat up with his hands up. You felt like you were getting tunnel vision. "Come'on… I won't hurt you. Just put the gun down-" As he spoke, you saw a flash of purple from behind you. You took a slight step back in surprise, felt a tightness stretch behind your back, and felt the gun recoil in your hands.

The man collapsed in front of you in a bloody heap. The realization of what just happened made your stomach turn upside down, tightness surrounded your stomach. Before you could fulfill your stomach's request of emptying itself, you felt a cold pain stabbing into your back, and had the sensation of drowning.

You blinked, and the pain was gone.

The man was alive.

The gun wasn't fired.

You heard the slightest sound of a step behind you, and you quickly turned to see a woman holding a large butterfly knife. Between you and her was a thin purple thread, faintly glowing. She didn't see it, and instead rushed at you. You yelled, trying to stop the knife with your gun-holding hand instead of shooting her, and felt a slash on the back of your hand. The gun clattered to the ground as more of the pain registered, and the woman held a crazy look in her eye. She stepped forward again, swinging wildly, only for darkness to appear in front of you.

The knife plunged deep into the side of Gaster, only for him to look down at it in disdain. "Pity." He uttered. "Look away, human." He looked over his shoulder at you, his orange haloes trapping you in them for a moment before you did as he said without a thought, turning away just in time to hear the scream and a sound you didn't know existed outside of video games or movies.

You quickly blinked and shook your empty thoughts out, turning to see a splatter of blood along the walls and floor. Gaster blocked most of the view, so you couldn't see what exactly what he did, but your stomach still tightened at the sight of the red. You instinctively brought your hands to your mouth, eyes wide and unbelieving.

"Oh my _god_ …" You uttered, the entire situation slowly settling heavy on your mind and gut.

" _Human_." Gaster's voice had a hint of a warning to it.

"Did… Did this _actually_ … Did _we_ …" You felt your chest heaving as you glanced towards the room, seeing even more red. You shook your head and pressed your hands more against your mouth. "I… I…"

" _Human_." Gaster's sharp voice got your attention, and his orange haloes burned in his sockets, completely drawing you into the centers of his eyes. You didn't have it in you to resist the pull this time. " _Be calm._ "

And you were.

You felt your hands lower, and your breathing returned to normal.

Sans stepped out of the room, flipping through a couple of stained wallets, pulling out one of the IDs and looking at it. "They're HP alright, looks like this-" He looked up, and his neutral eyes widened with offense when he saw you. " _Gaster_ -"

"They were unstable. Not what we needed in this situation." Gaster quickly explained, putting his hands up and taking a step back. That excuse didn't sit well with Sans. His hands drew into fists.

"Then calm them down the regular way! Don't use _your_ magic on _my_ human." Sans' pin lights vanished and the left one started glowing blue. You could feel the magic grow thick in the air.

You couldn't bring yourself to be concerned about it, however.

"What the hell is with all of the-" One of the doors further down the hallway opened up, and a familiar man with a broken nose and grey leather jacket walked out with a gun mid-pull. When he saw the horrific mess in the hallway, the gun snapped back into place. "Oh. Well, I'm sure this is awkward." He said, casually motioning as if having a pleasant conversation, before abruptly raising a gun and firing it in your direction.

Your eyes barely had the time to register the dark mass of Gaster appearing in front of you before he fell heavily to the ground, yelling out. Another shot rang through the air and you saw Sans teleport out of the corner of your eye.

Leader Prick, as you recognized him, quickly turned and ran down the hall. You couldn't think about what you were doing, and charged after him. You heard Sans shout something, but you were focused on Leader Prick opening the door wide for himself, and closing it with a slam before you were anywhere close to it.

His mistake.

You could feel the magical calmness break away from you, and you brought your mind to focus on what little of the room you saw before he closed it. You felt the needles scratch over your skin as you continued to run at the door. "Something scary… Something scary…" You muttered to yourself, trying to get yourself to teleport.

"No! Nono _no_ , _Bro_ , stay with me!" You heard Sans' panicked voice behind you. That did the trick.

The needles sharpened across your skin and your felt yourself pulled forward, seeing the elegant room form in front of you. Lovely desk, chairs, even a fancy water cooler in a corner. The whole room seemed out of place compared to the bar-

The needles then suddenly converged onto your leg.

You screamed, your vision blurring with white as the pain intensified and you half collapsed as your hands went to grab where the pain was, only to slam against wood. Your vision cleared slightly, and you saw where your thigh met the solid door, or rather, where your leg went _through_ the door.

Through the ringing in your ears, you could hear laughter. You gasped in air and continued crying out from the pain, only to feel cold metal under your chin and lift your head to face the Leader of HP.

"Why… Wouldn't you look at that." The Leader had a half smile as he stepped back, resting the robotic arm he used to lift your chin on his shoulder like a club.

"...Darling?" Mettaton's voice asked quietly, and you could see him laying in the far corner of the room without any limbs. He looked okay, other than the fact his arms and legs were missing, and a small puddle of oil under him.

"Shut it, Gearhead!" Leader shouted, pointing the metal arm at Mettaton. "I've been waiting forever to make dialogue with the pet that broke my pretty face and stole my meals, and you ain't gonna ruin that for me." Mettaton grew quiet, and the Leader turned back to you. He fixed the collar of his jacket, and you saw some dust float into the air at the action.

"... Go on." He motioned to you, and you realized he was waiting for you to say something. No words could form in your head, the pain of your leg overriding all of your thoughts. "Come on, ask me! I've waited so long to reason to you about why I am the way I am!" He smiled and took a step back, still waiting for you to question him.

"Fine, you don't need to ask, I'll just explain." His hand whipped around and he grabbed a chair from behind him, pulling it up till he could sit on it. "I'm not against you, _pet_. I'm for the both of us! Don't you see? When was the last time you've heard news on the radio 'bout racists? Cops, mayors, presidents, random acts of violences, what have you?" He asked, motioning wildly with the metal arm. He waited, and you actually tried to think back on it.

"Been a while, ey? A few months, at least, right?" He leaned forward, tapping your head with the arm. "Think about it, pet. Humans always gotta be fighting something, else we fight each other. Racists, rebellions, war, everything! All of that, is just based on that little fact. Humans need to fight to survive, else, we kill each other off! Isn't that all sorts of messed up?" He philosophize, spinning himself in his chair.

"So I'm doing my part in making sure we survive." He stopped spinning, and looked at you with purpose. "As long as we are fighting them, we don't need to be fighting each other. Don't you see? I'm saving us, by teaming us up against them." He said excitedly, as if he discovered the cure for cancer.

You couldn't believe what you were hearing, and he seemed to see that by your face.

"What? Come'on, don't look at me like that! You know I'm right, deep down! Letting people use their human nature to fight against others is healthy, and as long as it's against those _things_ , then no one is hurt by it! Just some extra dust lying around, who cares?" He asked with a shrug, and the pit in your stomach grew. "What do you say?"

It took all of what was left of your willpower to not simply keep crying from the pain, and instead you inhaled and shakily said, "Go... to _Hell_." You weakly spit at his direction, unable to put in the power to actually reach him.

He didn't seem impressed by that. "I suppose having you stuck there isn't helping your judgement. Shame. The fact you just helped murder a few of my most loyal followers puts you in a rather poor light in the eyes of the law, I could have helped you out if you thought it was in your best interest of survival. Oh well." He stood up and started walking to the far desk. "No no, don't get up. Allow me. I'll call-"

Whatever he was saying was cut off by you pulling out his soul.

His burning, red, soul.

"Well… would you look at _that_." He laughed, putting his hands up to either side of his soul and facing you again. "You are full of all _sorts_ of tricks, aren't you?" He smiled grabbing the soul with one hand and holding it up like an apple.

"Rumor has it that Red Souls are rather special. Rumor also has it that you, _pet_ , have one as well?" He asked, other hand reaching behind him. "You know what, because of this little development, let's make a little wager. You win, you can continue on your silly little life of being a pet and aiding in humanity destructing itself. I win, and I get to keep all of my loyal followers, and we save humanity _my way_. Deal?"

You didn't understand, but he didn't wait for an answer anyway. He pulled out a knife and plunged it into his soul, immediately collapsing.

" _HIC_!"

The hiccup completely disrupted your thoughts, causing you to pause in your steps and gather yourself for a moment, and looked at Gaster and Sans, who were standing close to the doorway and looking at you with concerned faces.

"Oh… Sorry, lost my train of thought." You shook your head, and realized your headache vanished. Your mouth opened without your permission for another hiccup, so strong you almost had to take a step back. "Wow those came out of nowhere." You commented, feeling rather confused on the hiccups. Another one came, quieter than the last ones, but still as shocking.

Gaster and Sans looked at each other, seeming to say something through their eyes alone.

"That didn't go as planned." Gaster uttered. He glanced around Alphy's apartment rather tiredly, bringing a hand up to his forehead.

"What didn't?" You asked.


	50. End Day

Life update since it's been a fucking ride though these past 50 chapters and it is officially Twenty-Validateen.

When I started writing this fic, I was starting college and living with a manipulative boyfriend who drove me to homelessness for 3 months. Now, I have graduated college with a 3.8 GPA and am married to someone who I once vague blogged my crushing on by calling him "Real Sans." Life is a fucking ride, and I really appreciate all of you reading this. Those who first read my story back when I was one of the only five fic writers for Undertale, those of you who helped support me when I was homeless, those of you who are just picking this up now… Thank you so much.

This obviously isn't the end of my fics with Sans, but I wanted to be able to officially say I completed this story. The rest of the Sans Days will likely just be simple chapters about living life with the monsters, like how this story originally started. I don't know how the plot got so wild so quickly, literally nothing in this fic was planned other than the first chapter that Sans turned into a massive monster, but I hoped all of you enjoyed it.

Thank you all for being here, even if you are just curled up in your bed reading a fic at 2am on a school day. I appreciate every Kudo, every comment, and every one of you. Yall are the best.

Even if all of you are skeleton fuckers.

.

.

You looked confused at the two skeletons standing close to the doorway, wondering if your hiccup was really the cause of them giving you such looks

"Sans? Gast-HIC!" The hiccup caught you off guard, as they tend to do, and interrupted your sentence. You cleared your throat and tried again. "What's that look for? Weren't we going to the club-?" You barely finished your question when a loud groan came from the side of the room.

"How many _**fucking**_ times am I going to hear that question tonight?!" Flowey shouted, absolutely furious. "Trash bag! I know you have a breaking point somewhere! You can't let them-"

" _Shut up_." Sans cut flowy off, taking a single step towards the potted plant, effectively shutting up whatever the flower was about to say. Gaster placed a hand on Sans shoulder, bringing a hand to his suddenly very tired looking cracked face.

"Brother… I am growing weary. Perhaps it is time to fill in their memories _before_ we leave the premises this time." Gaster suggested, keeping his voice low. Sans took a deep breath, hands flexing into fists as he thought. You were confused at how quickly their moods changed, and that confusion changed to anxiety when both of them turned to you, wearing the same tired look.

"Did… did I miss something just now?" You asked, cautious. The three of you had a solid plan just moments ago, why did they look so defeated already?

"Yeah... Gaster will fill you in." Sans sighed, bringing a hand to his temples and motioning with his other one in your direction. Gaster took that as permission to do… whatever he suggested, and moved towards you. Sans grabbed Gaster's arm for a second, face contorting in a slight grimace. "Just… make sure to just give them the shortened version… I think too much of the memories is what fucked us up that one time..." Gaster nodded, seeming to already had planned on doing that. You noticed your hiccups must have been scared away by now.

"Memories?" You asked, watching as Sans released his grip on his brother. Gaster stepped in your direction as you felt the world tighten up slightly around you. Transparent purple strings started appearing around the room, just touching the edges of your vision. "What happened?" You asked, voice having a slight shake to it all of a sudden.

"Please, give me your Soul. I will show you." Gaster stood in front of you with his holed hand held out, waiting. You glanced at his hand before looking at his face, seeing the glowing haloes watching your eyes carefully. Your concern only rose, and the purple threads around the room darkened. Something bad happened, but you trusted them.

You swallowed thickly, bringing a hand to your chest and pulling out your Soul for him. The colors seemed to glow brighter as you held the floating broken heart out to Gaster, but you could tell just how much Determination you had lost in the past few weeks. The blue from the band around the Soul seemed to be bleeding into the rest of the color, making a majority of the heart a deep purple, just the top and bottom edges kept their original redness. As you passed the Soul to him, you could feel Gaster make all of his movements clear and slow, as if he was being cautious of you at the moment.

"Relax your mind. Everything I am about to show you has already happened, but did not happen here _yet_. Do… try to keep calm." He instructed, carefully grabbing your Soul. He placed his thumb and middle finger on the far sides of it, just below the bumps, and slowly tightened his grip. You instinctively lifted your chin, feeling the pressure on the sides of your neck.

"Gas-?" You opened your mouth to speak, only to find that you were having trouble finding the air. You saw his eye haloes turn to a burning orange, and something held you tight as you tried taking a step back.

"Stay calm. Please, it will be but a moment." His voice flowed around you, trying to reassure you, but your panic only rose when you saw the world losing focus. You saw Sans standing with his arms crossed, looking away and tapping his foot, as if just waiting for Gaster to be done. Your senses started to fade as your head grew heavy, and you felt like you were sinking.

Then, there was silence.

The world around you, however, was very much alive.

You were in a massive club, surrounded by dozens of people without faces dancing to flashing lights. The feeling of bass was vibrating in your chest. A key was in your hand, and you were moving upstairs. Bodies fell to the floor as the hallway was painted red. You were stuck in a door, and you saw a faceless person you could identify as Leader Prick suddenly kill himself. You were back in the car as you saw Gaster and Sans argue in the silence, then you were climbing the fire escape. You found Mettaton on the floor in a puddle of oil, and Leader Prick walked in. You saw Leader Prick kill himself. Sans and Gaster were arguing with the police, you were watching the news from a small tv in the corner. The camera on the helicopter zoomed in on the window of the club, Leader Prick gave a stage bow to his audience. _You saw Leader Prick kill himself._

Countless silent memories flashed around, dragging you through all sorts of different situations, yet somehow, they all ended the same way. A few of the memories were incredibly short, jumping to you guys still in the apartment, stalling, before you felt as if that memory was already complete and moving to the next one. Despite the silence and the sheer number of memories you were reliving, you understood what was happening perfectly.

You guys _failed_.

 _Over and over._

Leader Prick knew he had the power to reset, so whenever you guys took too long to show up, or if you got close, or if you had others involved... he'd just kill himself. No matter how close to success you got, he'd just reset and take away all of that progress you made, only to keep that new knowledge to himself.

It was also clear in a majority of the resets, the brothers didn't bother giving these memories to you. They simply led you to do something different, and hoped for the best. You could tell there were lots of holes in the memories as well, and a few Gaster probably completely left out, but in all honesty you felt thankful for that.

You gasped in air as if waking up from a nightmare, and stood in the middle of Alphys' apartment with your eyes wide. Gaster and Sans watched you carefully, but your thoughts were too busy to pay too much attention to them. Your brain was trying to organize all of the new memories, something that seemed to be easier than your first reset, strangely enough. Sans cautiously spoke your name, but you quickly lifted a hand to shush him.

"Hold on." You muttered, brain still filtering the events. Somehow your breath kept steady, probably Gaster's doing, now that you thought about it, but it was helping. The purple in the room drew your attention, and you saw more than a two dozen purple threads hanging around the room, and grew brighter as you focused on them. "I think I understand." You quietly said, blinking slowly and bringing you gaze up to Sans, and then Gaster. You blinked, slowly tilting your head. "How did you do that?" You asked, wondering since when Gaster could do things with memories. You noticed your voice felt far away, almost like you were hearing the echo of it rather than hearing yourself speak. Gaster seemed to notice it was off as well.

"I can manipulate the subconscious, thus why I had to… restrain your airflow, and partially knock you out." He explained with a stall, eyes still filled with caution. "Since our Determination is connected I could refabricate your memories by-" Sans coughed, stopping Gaster from going too much further with his explanation.

"That's not important. But you get it now, right? We are at a standstill." Sans said with a sigh, tired eyes staring at the floor.

"We can't win as long as he can reset." You started. "So… Either we have to get him on our side-" Gaster and Sans immediately looked at you as if you grew a second head. " _Or,_ " you quickly added. "We keep him from resetting." That thought made the purple threads pulse, causing your eyes to follow them around the room. You could see Gaster watching you closely from the corner of your eye, but you continued to trace the thread to the base of Flowey. _That's it._

"How did Frisk do it with you?" You quickly walked up to Flowey and knelt in front of him, bringing yourself eye level to the plant. He looked rather uncomfortable at the sudden attention, and his eyes kept looking at your own and looking away rapidly.

"Do what with me? Stop my resetting? They just… existed." He continued avoiding prolonged eye contact. "They had more determination than I did, so when it came down to it, the power went to them. So when Chara started helping them as well..." He drifted off again, as he tended to do when it came down to his step-sibling and cause of death.

You stood up, trying to think a plan out loud. "So we just have to get the kid and-"

"Ah, yes… That will not work." Gaster cut your thought short, knowing your train of thought already. "They have more Determination than all of monsterkind, sure, but that is not saying a lot when comparing humans. You originally had more Determination than Frisk and… the HP leader, but obviously some things have changed since then."

"...Then you just have to give me back my Determination, and I can take some of that artificial Determination Alphys made, and that should be enough." You bounced back. Maybe all you needed to do is make previous mistakes again.

"It _might_ be, or it might just send him to the Void, and on the next reset Gaster won't exist again." Sans added. "We can't rule out that the leader of HP might have gained even more _natural_ Determination from all of this. In his eyes, he probably just became God."

"If this situation persists for too much longer and we grow desperate, we could always overload my form with Determination." Gaster offered, face growing grim with the thought. "It would send me to the Void, but I could attempt to alter things from there. At the very least I should be able to use our linked Determination to Reset to some previous major life-changing event for the human-"

The purple threads around the room grew more solid at that, and you felt almost angry at that suggestion. "What kind of Bad-End _bullshit_ is that suggestion?" You frowned at Gaster, and he startled at your outburst. "' _Some_ major life-changing event'? That could be anything from the past month! That could just be me bumping into Sans! Not to mention you'd be lost in the Void again, after all of our effort, and we'd be further behind than square one." If he managed to reset things from beyond the Void, who's to say anyone would even remember anything? What if then, even Sans would forget? The three of you, along with everyone in existence, would be stuck in the same loop for the rest of eternity. That would be a terrible ending for this arc.

You shook your head. "No. While I appreciate you being so willing to throw yourself back into the Void for us, I'm not so down for it." You looked around the room again for more ideas, but your attention got brought back to the thread that was tied around Flowey.

That thread stood out from all of the others. There were some that tied to the brothers, or just hung in the air, but nearly all of them lead _out._ The one that was tied around Flowey lead further _into_ the room. You walked over to it and grabbed it before you could think about what you were doing.

Visions of a goat-like monster flooded though you head, but it was different than any of your other visions. It wasn't a memory or something that happened in a different universe. It was fuzzy, and undefined. Every time you managed to focus on a detail it shifted to something else. The goat monster was a child, but then it was a god. He was small, then it warped into something monstrous. It was something you've never seen before.

It was something that you guys haven't tried yet.

You shook yourself out of the vision and found yourself back in Alphys' apartment, and you quickly started following the thread across the room. You heard Sans say your name.

"Where are you going? Did you think of something?" He asked, and he followed you into the kitchen. You went to your knees and opened one of the cabinets, catching yourself in the glass reflection. You stopped, and looked at your wrongly colored eyes. They seemed to be purple? You shook your head and decided to cross that bridge later. You turned your attention back to the thread and following it up and behind a stack of pots in the cabinet. You moved them out of the way, and your hand brushed against the back. You felt your eyebrows lower in confusion. The thread was phased right through the bottom of the wall, as if it wasn't there at all. You rapped your knuckles against the wood paneling, and you heard it sound hollow. Alphys watched too much anime.

"What are you doing?" Sans asked, seeming even more confused at your silent actions. You ignored him and carefully used your nails to wedge against where the walls met, and you felt your nail catch a lip. You gently pulled the thin wood to the side, and a secret panel behind the cabinet revealed itself.

You heard Sans inhale behind you as you looked at the various test tubes and small machines, but you doubted that's what got his attention. You reached in, and pulled out a small glass beaker that had glowing red dirt at the bottom, and a bright white plant growing in it. It was still young and partially curled in on itself, but it looked like it was close to blooming.

Your Soul throbbed in your chest as you looked at the illuminated plant, and you had the overwhelming feeling that it was the same plant that caused you to die the first time.

It was Flowey's seed.

" _She lied to me._ " Sans' voice grew dark as he stared at the plant with hollow eyes, and you do vaguely remember Alphys saying she was planning on burning the seed after she was done studying it.

"Looks like it, but she might have just solved our problem." You said, standing up and holding the beaker carefully in front of you. Gaster's eyes went wide when he saw the beaker, but he stepped to the side as you passed him and placed it by Flowey.

"Is that… Determination? Being used as a dirt?" Gaster asked, following you closely behind. Flowey seemed anxious as the plant approached, unsure and unnerved by all of the attention and the silent acquisitions.

"Why are you placing… _that_ , by me?" Flowey moved his body to give himself extra distance from the beaker. "Just because it's a plant, doesn't mean it has anything to do with me!" He quickly said, but you ignored him, and slowly brought a hand up to the glass. You felt the magic radiating from the plant and humming at your fingertips. You turned towards Sans.

"Call Toriel. We don't have a lot of time."

.

It was a mad rush after that. You, the skeleton brothers, and Flowey all got into Metatton's car and drove to the grocery store parking lot, as it was a good mid-way meeting place. You were the one responsible for holding Flowey and the plant, which he still did not like being close to. Gaster was busy making calls to the police, telling them of Mettaton's location. Sans was charged with being the one to drive and explain to Toriel everything she needed to know over the phone.

"I really don't think this is a good idea! I don't think Cha- er... Frisk, will be happy to see me." Flowey looked up at you, but you shook your head.

"Maybe not… But I have a gut feeling." You adjust your grip on the two plants.

"We are betting everything on your gut feeling?" Flowey asked, growing more irritated.

"If this doesn't work then everything will reset again and none of this would have happened. No stress." You shrugged, and Flowey frowned even more at that.

"No stress?! Lots of stress!" His stem wiggled in frustration, but you kept your eyes to the window as the car pulled into the empty parking lot. The lights were dim, and one of them was flickering with a bad bulb. This definitely wasn't a place you would go to in the night under any other circumstances.

A soccer-mom van pulled in as well, and you could only assume that was Toriel's car. Sans parked the car and all of you got out and you quickly placed the plants onto the hood of the car as you heard the other doors slam shut. You saw a very tired Frisk and Toriel walk up to Sans and Gaster beside the car, leaving you to do your thing.

"Sans, who is this?" Toriel kept her paws on Frisk's shoulders as she looked at Gaster, who gave a royal bow.

"This is Gaster, my other brother." Sans quickly introduced. "I know everything I've been saying sounds crazy, but you need to trust me." They continued to talk as you brought your hand to the glowing plant, feeling the magic surge under your palm.

"This is crazy! Whatever you think that is, it won't-!" Flowey was yelling at you, but his yells cut short as your hand turned into a fist and pulled towards your chest, and a small, white glowing heart popped out of the other plant. The plant immediately stopped glowing and wilted, but Flowey's attention stayed on the small Soul floating in front of you.

He stared at it for a moment, shaking, before looking at you. "I d-don't know what you think you are doing! But don't do it!" Flowey was leaning away from the Soul, very much afraid of it.

"Wait… that voice." Toriel spoke up, turning to the two of you. She looked confused at Flowey, a hidden wound in her eyes. "Human, what are you doing to that monster?" How she addresses her own son hit home just how alone Flowey had been all this time. You turned to Flowey and saw that his face was afraid, more in his three dimensional face that vaguely looked similar to Toriel's.

"Giving his Soul back." You said, pushing the white heart into Flowey.

Flowey immediately started glowing, and his features turned to horror as he looked at his leaves. "No! You can't! This is a mistake!" He cried as his light brightened so much that you had to turn your head. When the light started to dull you looked back at him, and saw a small goat monster sitting on the hood of the car, bawling. "I don't deserve this!"

"Asriel!" Toriel immediately ran over and picked her crying son off of the car and embraced him. You glanced at Sans and saw that he was slack jawed, apparently never thinking that it would have actually had worked. If you were being honest yourself, you based this off of a gut feeling, so you were rather shocked as well. In your mind if it didn't work then the reset would have cleared up everything anyway. Not that this was going to stop it, now you realize. Now Flowey was just a normal monster with a Soul. Not the powerful being that you saw in that fuzzy vision, or even someone with more Determination to override Leader Prick's resets.

You turned to see what Gaster thought about everything, but he had his attention to the grocery store. You followed his gaze and saw a tv had been left on, and showing the late night news. You could see a helicopter heading towards downtown, and you felt your heart sink a little. Leader Prick is going to end this happy reunion real soon, but at least you guys did something different this cycle. Maybe it will help with moral during the next one, you would be okay with that.

"How did- where- how?" Toriel stumbled over her questions, crying freely while running her hands over her son's fur and seeming to not believe that he was really there, right in front of her after all of this time being 'dead.'

"Asriel." Frisk spoke up, and when you looked down you could see Frisk staring at Asriel with their red eyes wide open.

"Frisk, darling, did you just speak?" Toriel asked, shocked at that development as well. Frisk ignored her and continued to stare at Asriel, who cried even harder.

"I'm so sorry, so so so sorry! I never meant to let you down, and I did so, _so_ many times. I'm so sorry Chara!" Asriel wiggled out of his mother's arms and rushed up to Frisk, giving them a big hug. Frisk hugged back, and you could see Toriel growing confused at Asriel calling them Chara.

You glanced back to the tv, seeing that the helicopter was close to Man-Made now… it wouldn't be long before this heartwarming reunion would be ripped away, and leaving you guys to start all over again.

"It's okay, you didn't. We got there in the end, and that's what matters." Frisk said, holding tighter. "I asked too much of you, we were just kids." The way they talked, you could assume they were much older than how Frisk appeared. They quietly broke the hug, taking a step back. "Asriel, will you forgive me? I know I don't deserve it, but it's my fault you died."

"Of course I forgive you, I want nothing but to be with you forever! Best friends, right?" He offered a paw to them.

"Right." Frisk grabbed the paw, and both of their Souls suddenly appeared in front of them. A smaller red Soul separated itself from Frisk's, and merged with Asriel's white Soul. Asriel's body started glowing brighter again, causing everyone to turn away for a moment once more. This time, Asriel was almost the same height as Toriel, looking much more mature with dark marks under his eyes and more developed horns.

Frisk still stood where they originally were, though this time their eyes were relaxed, and you didn't see the red that they had before. Asriel started laughing, looking at his paws and giving himself a big hug as he started crying. "I'm so happy!" He fell to his knees, sniffing.

Toriel didn't seem to know what to make of everything that just happened, but she quickly ran up and hugged her son… well, children? You weren't entirely sure yourself, but you found yourself looking towards the tv again, seeing that the cameras were zooming in on the large windows. You could see Mettatton sitting in the corner of the room, and Leader Prick giving a golfers clap and blowing some kisses towards the helicopter before pulling out a gun and shooting himself in the head.

And…

Everything continued on.

You and Sans met eyes, and the two of you quickly ran at each other, wrapping arms around each other quickly in an excited hug. You apparently threw him off just enough, and the two of you tumbled to pavement of the parking lot, laughing.

"So, would you look at that. We got out of the cycle, and Leader Prick is gone now too! Maybe now we will be able to live halfway-normal lives!" You cheered, squishing the sides of Sans' face.

"I would not get your hopes up." Gaster walked over, looking down at the two of you. "Do you recall anything from the past couple months? There is no redeeming any amount of normality to cover up all of that." He said with a smile, to let you know he was making an attempt of a joke.

You laughed and shrugged. "Well, I think I'd be fine with that. Being normal is too boring for me anyway. Besides, this will make a great story! Not that anyone will believe us. Far as the rest of the world knows, the HP Leader just off-ed himself for no reason."

"Good riddance to bad trash." Sans held his hand up as if it was for a toast.

"Hear hear!" You fake cheered and toasted, Gaster gave the laziest of hand motions to agree.

Gaster chuckled and helped the two of you up. One challenge down, the rest of your life to go. Maybe you should start with trying to explain what happened to Toriel, or you could just leave that up to her child(ren?) and focus on getting a new place big enough for the skeleton family. You'd love to be able to get Samus back, at the very least. Ooph, too many things to do now that the big bad was taken care of. With everything that happened, you doubt humanity will be able to ignore HP any longer, especially with what happened to Metatton. Change was coming, and you were ready for it.

Sans talked to Toriel for a while, eventually agreeing to meet up tomorrow and to talk more then. He and Gaster led you to the car, letting you take the back seat to rest for the drive to Alphys' place. As you were leaving the parking lot you could see Mettaton being rescued on the tv, immediately surrounded by people you could recognize as his fans. You smiled, wondering what adventures you would get into tomorrow.

Whelp.

Monsters, apparently, were going to be a thing in your life forever now. Sure, you heard the stories of monsters influencing others with their wonder and magic, but you didn't believe it until a couple months ago. Now you couldn't imagine life without them.

It sure would have had made a boring story, wouldn't it?


End file.
